According to Big Lang Aviation’s co-owner Clarence Froude, their single otter aircraft has been returned. Wildlife enforcement officials seized the plane Thursday evening after it made a caribou delivery to the Innu community of Sheshatshiu.
Froude claims that the plane was returned about 24 hours later, Friday Evening, after officials got a warrant and searched the inside of the plane. It is unclear if charges will be laid against the company or the two pilots in the future.
Now that the plane has been returned, Froude says they plan to pick up the Innu hunters at Shipiskan Lake, where the caribou has been hunted, early tomorrow morning. It’s believed that there are 16 people at the Shipiskan Lake encampment. It’s not yet known if there’s a plan to arrest the hunters once they return to the community.
Innu Nation Grand Chief Prote Poker claims that Natuashish has gotten almost all their caribou for the season. Sheshatshiu and Natuashish were slated to get 150 animals each, Poker says Natuashish has 149.
According to poker, Natuashish’s caribou came from an area called Shakask, about an hour and a half snowmobile ride from the community. Poker was unable to say for certain if all the caribou were male or not.
