estimated 7,200 caribou—a decline of 11 percent since 2020 and more than 98 percent since 2001. However, the report stated that “the continued ille- gal harvest of George River caribou by a relatively small number of people continues to delay and threaten herd recovery.” Taking as few as 5 percent of the herd each year
reduces the expected rate of population growth sub- stantially because the loss of a single female caribou means the absence of many more offspring over subsequent generations, said Festa-Bianchet. “The few caribou that are there now are the key to herd
“It’s not only the loss of a source of food. When you think of your grandchildren, part of their heritage is gone.”
— Inuit community member Sarah Baikie
recovery,” he said. “Any caribou you take today means maybe 15 or 20 fewer caribou that your children will be able to take in a sustainable harvest in 20 or 25 years. Even one that is killed now will slow down or prevent that recovery and it will take more years to the time when there can be a decent harvest.” For the moment, the Inuit embrace the stories
of their elders and their own recollections of the caribou as they await the return of the animals in the numbers of old. “I remember my grandmother saying that in years gone by there were other times when there were no caribou,” said Robert Watt, resting his hopes on words he heard in childhood about natural boom-and-bust cycles. Voisey worries that young people today will never
develop a taste for caribou because they never ate it growing up. For her, just hearing the word “marrow” evokes memories of its taste and its central place in her childhood, memories she fears may be lost in time. “My son won’t have those memories,” she said. “I want to share marrow with my grandchildren.”
aaron levin is a freelance journalist based in Baltimore, Maryland, and a frequent contributor to American Indian magazine.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION WINTER 2022 25
PETER MATHER
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