Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the last number of years, I have become much more informed about caribou and hunting than I ever was prior to that time. The one issue that kept coming up that caught my attention was a discussion by Members in this House, by people everywhere I travelled in the Northwest Territories, and that's the issue of waste. Mr. Speaker, I am specifically talking of stories where animals are shot and only the back strap and hind quarters are taken. In some cases, the animals aren't even gutted. I have heard stories of meat being labelled as diseased because they didn't want to bother carrying it back to their boat because it was too far. Stories of animals being shot and they checked the brisket by cutting the brisket to see if there is any fat and if there is no fat, the entire animal is just left and they go on to the next animal that was shot.
I have seen pictures, 120 animals shot on the Dempster Highway, bodies all dragged to the side of the road, a big pile of bodies, antlers, hooves, just thrown together, a monstrous pile, 120 at one time.
I have heard of hunters shooting into the herd; I was told rifles probably not even sighted, hoping to hit something. If nothing dropped, they carry on not checking for wounded animals.
I have heard the stories of people being able to go out on Gordon Lake afterwards just to walk around and harvest all the tongues and all the other parts that have been left behind, the front shoulders, the ribs, because they are not being picked up; of animals being shot far in capacity to take them out of the place they are being hunted.
Mr. Speaker, as we talk about the value of these animals and the precious gift that they are, clearly one of the things we have to keep in mind is that we can't forget that point. As we talk about the caribou numbers and what's happening to the animals, we can't afford to waste what is really and truly a precious resource. Thank you.
---Applause