Lead, geese and ptarmigan hunting in Nunavik: The Bottom-line.

Michael K. H. Kwan

“Migratory birds hunting in Nunavik is significantly far less important

a source of dietary lead in comparison with ptarmigan hunting.”

Reasons:
1. Recent interviews with Inuit hunters in Kuujjuaq has confirmed the estimation
that a few hundred to a thousand or so geese on average are harvested in each
community each year. Three or four thousand to as many as ten thousand
ptarmigans on average are harvested in each community each year. The
estimation varies a great deal from community to community.

2. The geese hunting period in spring when the migrating geese fly over
communities is seldom longer than one month. The hunting period for
ptarmigans is between 8 to 10 months in a year from early fall to late spring.
Ptarmigan is one of the most important country foods during that long period.

3. Hunter Support Program of Nunavik purchases thousands of ptarmigans from

Inuit hunters each year to fill community freezers. The birds are freely
available to all beneficiary families.

4. Interviews with Inuit hunters confirmed that more than 95% of ptarmigan
hunting is carried out using small caliber (0.22 cal.) rifles with lead bullets.
The use of shotguns to harvest ptarmigans is rare. It is impractical, unrealistic
and simply not feasible to replace 0.22 cal. lead bullets with non-lead
alternatives now and in the near future in Nunavik. Most if not all geese
hunting is carried out using shotguns with mostly non-lead pellet cartridges.
Wounded geese are often finished off with a 0.22 cal. rifle using lead bullets.

5. Because of the small size of ptarmigans, the edible parts are almost always
contaminated with bullet lead fragments to various extents. The majority of
edible parts of hunted ptarmigans has lead concentrations exceed established
safety guideline levels (see reference).

Reference:
Kwan, Michael K. H., 2018. A significant dietary source of lead to Nunavik Inuit:
Ptarmigan hunting. Nunavik Research Centre, Makivik Corporation, Quebec.
University of Calgary Arctic Institute of North America (AINA) Publication Server.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael_Kwan3/publication/323691577_A_signific
ant_dietary_source_of_lead_to_Nunavik_Inuit_Ptarmigan_hunting/links/5aa678baa6fdcc
29af5311df/A-significant-dietary-source-of-lead-to-Nunavik-Inuit-Ptarmigan-hunting.pdf