Premier says hunters behind caribou slaughter to be punished

Premier Wab Kinew promised Tuesday that the people who slaughtered dozens of caribou, including pregnant cows, and dumped their carcasses at the doorstep of American-owned lodge properties in a provincial park, would be punished.

“Anybody who participated in this has no respect for animals, has no right to be able to hunt in this province and will be pursued and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” Kinew told the legislature in response to questions about the grisly discovery in Nueltin Lake Provincial Park last month.

“We’re going to do that by working with non-Indigenous and Indigenous people,” the premier told the house, saying he’s spoken to people who live off the land in that part of the province.

Nick Scigliano, who owns two lodge properties in the park just south of the border with Nunavut, shared video of the grisly scene, discovered April 11, when he chartered a helicopter to check on his properties.

He said he used his phone to record video from the air of people on snowmobiles chasing caribou and of dozens of dead caribou strewn in bloody piles across the snow.

The video shows a helicopter door open at ground level and people passing by on snowmobiles.

Scigliano said he didn’t confront them before flying to Thompson to file a report to RCMP and Manitoba Conservation.

He later returned to the site with RCMP. The lodge owner said near-term calves were among the caribou carnage, as well as unharvested meat. Cabins had been stripped and trashed, with furniture used as firewood. The vandals left human waste behind.

The Florida resident, who has businesses in Pennsylvania and is an avid outdoorsman, bought the lodge four years ago. He planned to restore the buildings as fishing and eco-tourism hubs.

Scigliano said he gave conservation officers and police 8,000 images and video surveillance clips that show several snowmobilers dragging the caribou carcasses behind their machines to the lodge property and hacking at them.

“I feel that it’s just critically important for the public and for your leadership to be aware of the magnitude of what has occurred,” he said Tuesday. “These images in the video, they speak for themselves.”

In the legislature Tuesday, Tory natural resources critic Rick Wowchuk demanded to know what the province is doing about the “senseless waste of caribou and this unsustainable madness.”

The member for Swan River said in an interview the video upset him and should upset all Manitobans.

“When cows are returning to the calving grounds to give birth and to bring on the next generation, it’s just totally unacceptable to see this type of slaughter occur.”

Natural Resources Minister Ian Bushie said RCMP and Manitoba conservation officers are on it.

“I am deeply concerned by these reports of unethical hunting practices and wastage,” Bushie said in a prepared statement.

“We want to ensure that caribou can continue to be harvested for generations to come… it is critical that we hold the people involved to account,” said Bushie who was not available for an interview.

The RCMP said Tuesday that no arrests have been made.

Manitoba Conservation wouldn’t comment on the active investigation or say whether charges are under consideration.

Scigliano said he doesn’t know the motive, or if it has anything to do with him being American and animosity towards the U.S. over tariffs and rhetoric about making Canada the 51st state.

“I sure hope not. That would be so sad, because I do not agree with the 51st state rhetoric whatsoever.”

“The wastage of the meat and the shooting of the cows, it’s just beyond words.”–Chris Heald

The Manitoba Wildlife Federation, which advocates for hunters, anglers, trappers and sport shooters, said the slaughter has to stop for the sake of the Qamanirjuaq caribou herd.

“We can’t be shooting pregnant cows and expect a population to survive,” said federation policy analyst Chris Heald, who travelled to the site with Scigliano. “It’s hard to process what we witnessed,” Heald said Tuesday. “The wastage of the meat and the shooting of the cows, it’s just beyond words.”

In a bulletin Tuesday, the federation said the herd has declined to 253,000 animals in 2022 from 496,000 animals in 1994.

“To ensure caribou are maintained for northern Indigenous communities, as well as for non-Indigenous caribou hunters, it’s time for serious conversations that include everybody, to ensure that all hunters embrace sustainable caribou harvesting,” it said.

The provincial government must take the lead by getting all stakeholders to the table and laying down the law, said Heald, who noted Indigenous hunters are legally allowed to harvest cows right now.

“The province has to sit everybody down to have some difficult discussions,” he said.

Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said the government is committed to listening to Indigenous communities, hunters and lodge owners.

“We’re always listening to one another and bringing Manitobans together to find solutions.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca