Newfoundland wildlife conservation officers say they have been stymied in their attempts to prosecute Innu hunters who killed 15 rare woodland caribou in southern Labrador last month.
There are fears that the mid-April hunting expedition where 15 animals from the Red Wine caribou herd were slaughtered could be the death knell for the dwindling herd, which now has only about 85 animals.
A Newfoundland and Labrador government helicopter followed snowmobile tracks into the densely wooded wintering area for the herd in mid-April and found a grisly sight. Three hunters fled, leaving behind sleds containing the carcasses of 14 caribou. Another animal was wounded and likely died in the bush.
Conservation officers later discovered the entrails of the slain caribou and evidence that five of the animals -- which are supposed to be protected from hunting -- would have had calves this spring.
Provincial wildlife officers traced the hunters to the Quebec north shore Innu community of Pakua Shipu but cannot prosecute them because the alleged hunting offences were committed in Newfoundland and Labrador.
"They [Innu hunters]knew they were woodland caribou. Our guys have gone to Quebec and interviewed them and they admitted everything in statements. But those statements are no good on this side of the border," Frank Phillips, senior conservation officer for the Department of Forest Resources and Agri-foods in Northwest River, said yesterday.
He said the hunters would not say why they pursued the rare woodland caribou when a massive herd of non-threatened animals is available for hunting in the Churchill Falls area -- the same distance from Pakua Shipu as the Red Wine herd.
Mr. Phillips said there are indications that a few native hunters are using sophisticated methods to track down and poach animals.
"They've got snow machines now and they use the subsidies from the band councils to use aircraft to spot the few remaining animals in a herd -- that's sophisticated," he said. "It's not somebody running around on snowshoes."
If the Quebec hunters had been apprehended in Newfoundland and Labrador they would have faced confiscation of all their equipment plus fines of as much as $50,000.
Mr. Phillips is hoping they will be disciplined by their Innu band in Quebec.
"We're hopeful they'll apply internal sanctions but somehow actions speak louder than words. The leaders have a hard time telling other people what to do."
But Kenneth Rock, lawyer for three Quebec Innu communities including Pakua Shipu, said many native people were angered by the slaughter of the rare caribou and want the hunters to be punished.
He said the Innu people had an unwritten agreement that they would not hunt the Red Wine caribou or the Mealy Mountain herd, both of which are classified as threatened.
"We totally disagree with what happened here and something has to be done about it," Mr. Rock said. He said the Innu people in Newfoundland and Quebec have hunted on both sides of the border in Labrador and have the aboriginal right to hunt for food.
"We have aboriginal rights to hunt in Labrador or Quebec but when it has to do with conservation and caribou that are endangered we are willing to participate," he said. "We have to make sure those caribou are there for a long time."
Mr. Rock said he is urging the three communities that make up the Mamit Innuat organization in Quebec to set up an aboriginal justice system.
He suggested such an organization could punish illegal hunting by taking away the offender's right to hunt.