A Small Lesson

MSNBC Headline:

Canada worried as some caribou herds decline
Ease of hunting, and global warming, cited as issues

The story appears to be the same as a Reuters story carrying this headline:

Canada worried by plunging caribou population

The problem? Here's what the story says:

Herds of barren-ground caribou — which for centuries have been a crucial source of food and furs for local aboriginals — have dropped by between 40 and 86 percent over the last 10 years. The largest single herd fell from 472,000 animals in 1986 to 128,000 in 2006 and is still declining.

"The level of concern is very high in the Northwest Territories," said Ray Case of the territories' environment and natural resources ministry.

Case — blaming natural factors such as varying climate, insect levels, the amount of food available, and the number of predators — said the caribou population had traditionally risen and fallen over a 30-year cycle.

But he told Reuters that warmer winters and easier access for hunters to the ranges that the caribou cover make it harder to say what will happen to the herds in years to come.

"That doesn't suggest global warming is driving this but certainly there is concern that things are changing … we do have some uncertainty about what the future holds as far as climate and as far as human activity," he said.

Meanwhile, there is also this report:

Aboriginals admit their hunting may be part of Arctic caribou decline

But many also suggested modern hunting methods are crimping the ability of the herds to recover.

"It's easier to get caribou these days," said Robert Charlie, head of the Gwich'In Renewable Resources Board.

Hunters used to depend on experience to find caribou and on dog teams to get to where they were.

Now, herds can be spotted from airplanes and tracked through the Internet. Transportation is easier with roads, trucks and snow machines. The animals are shot with high-powered rifles. Hunters who used to go out a few times a year go out almost monthly.

"You have people going out for a couple hours and coming back with caribou," said Charlie.

Jimmy Rabesca, a 73-year-old Dogrib elder from Wha Ti, said that ease of access has eroded some of the old reverence for the land and the animals it succors.

"We used to hunt animals kindly, respectfully," he said through a translator. "We shot animals because we loved them and we loved the land. Today . . ." he trailed off, shaking his head.

I think that while the Reuters reporter played the story more or less straight, the MSNBC headline writer did not. There was very little emphasis on the hunting issues, which may be a very large part of the problem. So may the enormous expansion of mining and the fact that development has brought roads and ease of access. In other words it is a complicated issue and the native hunters know they are part of the problem. They also appear to be stepping up and doing something about it. Instead of trying to mislead the public.