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Farley Mowat and "wanton"
Posted by martentrapper on Feb 21 2006
Farley Mowat was known to stretch the truth. He wrote for an audience, not for factuality. I read that book almost 30 years ago.
There was no such thing as "wanton" waste when nomadic people were the major humjans in our state. You killed what you could, put it away or stored it somehow, and used it when you could. I suspect it was hard to determine just exactly how much a group needed, plus they travelled alot, so if there was excess at some time, that was just part of the game. There wasn't any intent to waste, but it was often impractical to carry or use all the food a group may have obtained.
I think we can see the same thing today. Rural people may not waste much at the time of the kill, but it is commen to harvest more than they need, if the game pop. allows for that. Us non natives do that also. Check out a village dump, especially in spring or fall. The old stuff is thrown away. Not many dog teams to feed left overs too either, plus it's illegal to feed any game meat to domestic animals.
Use habits have changed as well. Not much need for skin, feet, etc. Parts of the animal that would have been useful in the past are no longer......unless of course they can turn those parts into money!
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