He committed a fowl.
A hunter in the Canadian Arctic ruffled the feathers of a group of student “goose detectives” after he killed and ate one of the birds the youngsters were tracking from more than 3,500 miles away.
Devon Manik, an Inuit hunter, made a meal of the goose after shooting it dead, unaware that students in Dungarvan, Ireland had tagged about 100 brent geese for a school project to monitor the species’ flight path as it migrated between Ireland and the polar region, according to The Irish Times.
Manik said the waterfowl trek to the area in June and lay their eggs, providing a hearty meal for his mother and grandmother who “really love geese.”
“It tasted good,” Manik told the outlet.
“The reason why we hunt today is because it’s so expensive to live up here [in Arctic Canada]. Without hunting all of the food has to be shipped up. We hunt the geese subsistently as they are passing by.”
The fourth grade students from St. Mary’s Primary school for girls were working with scientists from the University of Exeter to track the migration path of the small, dark goose species that spend their winters in Ireland before flying to northwest Canada to breed, the outlet reported.
The bird then returns to the Irish shores with its gosling.
Anne Quinn, the children’s former teacher, said the students gave each goose an identifying tag – which Manik found after his slaying – before releasing them back into the wild to monitor.
While she said the students were shocked to learn of the bird’s demise, they were able to confirm that many of the geese did make their way back home to Ireland, according to the outlet.
“The Arctic is a place way out there,” Quinn said.
“This in a strange way was proof they made this incredible journey … it shows how much we’re connected; geographically, culturally.”
Ecologist Kendrew Coulhoun, who was working with the students, indicated there’s no bad blood between him and Manik after meeting.
“There’s a little bit of sadness there because obviously they are very highly protected in Ireland and we love them but at the same time we totally appreciate that the local communities here, they don’t have access to supermarkets,” he said, according to The Irish Times.
“These communities definitely need to do such a thing, so who are we to judge that?”
The bird’s demise will be featured in a new 13-part animated documentary called “Where the Wild Geese Go” premiering later this month on Irish television.
The film crew learned of the goose’s fate after they traveled to Resolute Bay – one of Canada’s northernmost communities, the outlet reported.
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