--- title: Pictures of an Inuit Polar Bear Hunt in Canada description: The images of a polar-bear hunt will be hard to view, but life in Canada's impoverished Inuit communities is just as hard canonical: https://time.com/2891891/hunting-the-polar-bear/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-19T11:30:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:08:16.298Z article:section: Science og:title: Images of a Polar Bear Hunt og:description: Poverty drives Inuit in Canada to hunt and kill polar bears og:url: https://time.com/2891891/hunting-the-polar-bear/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7f891c87800db48/69869810169ab08ea3279f38/xnew1_eo_nunavut_september05_polarbearhunting_0780.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: polar bears og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Images of a Polar Bear Hunt twitter:description: Poverty drives Inuit in Canada to hunt and kill polar bears twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7f891c87800db48/69869810169ab08ea3279f38/xnew1_eo_nunavut_september05_polarbearhunting_0780.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Crimson on White: Hunting the Polar Bear by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jun 19, 2014 11:30 AM UTC  Baffin Island, Sept. 5, 2013\. A polar bear collapses on the ground after being shot by Inuit hunters. The Inuit in Canada have traditionally hunted polar bears for subsistence and income to provide for their families, and continue to do so to this day with the blessing of the government. Baffin Island, Sept. 5, 2013\. A polar bear collapses on the ground after being shot by Inuit hunters. The Inuit in Canada have traditionally hunted polar bears for subsistence and income to provide for their families, and continue to do so to this day with the blessing of the government.Ed Ou—Reportage by Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jun 19, 2014 11:30 AM UTC _Ed Ou spent four months in 2013 photographing Inuit c_ _ommunities in Nunavut, the northernmost territory of Canada. Here, many are cut off from the rest of the country — and food and supplies are brought in at an extremely high cost by land and sea. Because of this, the Inuit often depend on hunting for food. Environmental groups regularly criticize them for hunting species claimed to have dwindling populations such as narwhal, belugas, seals and polar bears. In the U.S., Washington has pushed for a global ban on the commercial trade of polar-bear fur, meat and body parts. But the Canadian government opposes this on behalf of the Inuit._ _Editor’s note: Given the isolation of the communities in the north of Canada, Ou helped offset the high costs of embedding himself with the Inuit community and contributed money for gas, groceries, heating, Internet and other expenses._ --- Ed Ou’s pictures are hard to look at. A polar bear emerges from the water, drenched in blood, turning its white fur crimson. Then the dead bear sprawled on the rocks, legs spread and jaw open, as if it were simply caught by surprise, even while the hunters begin the process of butchering the carcass. Finally the bear’s pelt, cleansed of blood, drying in a bathtub. Polar bears have become the living symbols of climate change, with reason — as the planet warms, the sea ice that the bears use as hunting platforms is melting, putting the animals at risk. The idea of hunting and killing an animal that is listed as an endangered species, one that’s already under pressure from climate change, seems wrong on its face, like crimson blood on white fur. But look closer at those pictures. Ou, a Canadian, traveled to the Inuit homeland of Nunavut in the far north not to document a polar-bear hunt, but to explore a part of his own country that had always seemed foreign. In remote towns like Pangnirtung and Iqaluit, Ou found a culture grappling with extreme poverty, substance abuse and a legacy of mistreatment from the Canadian government, which for decades all but stole Inuit children from their parents, sending them to residential schools where they were forbidden to speak their own language or practice their own culture. The last residential schools were only shut down in 1996, but the effects are still being felt among the Canadian Inuit whom Ou went to document, compounded by the extreme isolation of the Arctic and the painful transition from a traditional subsistence-hunting culture to a sedentary way of life. “Trauma has been passed down from one generation to the next,” says Ou. “Alcoholism is high, drug abuse is high, suicide rates are high. It’s a very traumatized place.” In his photos, Ou shows Inuit like Kelly Amaujaq Fraser, a young woman who was sexually abused as a young girl, and whose father killed himself when she was just a teenager. Ou shows a near-empty refrigerator, the product of a place where unemployment is in the double digits, and where a simple carton of milk can cost more than $10\. Given those bleak conditions, it’s not surprising that the Inuit would hunt polar bears, as their ancestors did before them — albeit not with high-powered rifles. A single polar-bear pelt can fetch more than $10,000 on the open market, and the meat can feed dozens of hungry people. As distasteful as the sight of a butchered polar bear might be to outsiders, to the Inuit, it’s a matter of survival — and of culture. “They feel their ability to hunt is one of their last sources of subsistence,” says Ou. “Before you judge them, you have to understand the socioeconomic factors driving this.” That doesn’t mean it’s right to allow polar-bear hunts to continue. It’s unclear just how many polar bears are left, and the continued effects of climate change will almost certainly drive the species closer to extinction if nothing is done to save them. But it doesn’t seem that the burden should fall on the Inuit, who’ve already paid such a high price. “They ask, ‘Why do we have to pay the highest price for global warming when we contribute the least?’” says Ou. Justice is something else that’s endangered in the Arctic. --- [**_Ed Ou_**](http://www.edouphoto.com)_is a photographer with Reportage by Getty Images_  Pangnirtung, Canada, Nov. 14, 2013\. During a hunting trip, Paul Ishlutak, 12, stays warm in the underside of a boat. He and his brother Damien tag along with their father, who teaches them how to hunt. With so many children to feed and support, his father Levi often struggles to put food on the table. Ed Ou—Reportage by Getty Images  Iqaluit, Canada, Oct. 5, 2013\. Kelly Amaujaq Fraser (left) smokes with her friends Vernuh Kanatsiak (middle) and Beth Idlout-Kheraj (right) under an inuksuk stone landmark. The inuksuk is traditionally used by the Inuit as a marker for navigation and is often thought of as a symbol of Inuit culture in Canada. Ed Ou—Reportage by Getty Images  Iqaluit, Canada, Oct. 5, 2013\. After an intense conversation about her past, Kelly Amaujaq Fraser wipes a tear from her eyes in the bathroom mirror. Growing up in a small Inuit hamlet of Sanikiluaq near northern Quebec, Kelly often struggles with a painful childhood. Ed Ou—Reportage by Getty Images  Rankin Inlet, Canada, Oct. 12, 2013\. Brian Tagalik, 28, visits the grave of his friend Dunigan Kolit, who killed himself when he was 15-years old. As Brian walks throughout the cemetery, he points out the graves of almost a dozen of his friends who died of suicide. Ed Ou—Reportage by Getty Images  Arviat, Canada, Oct. 31, 2013\. A polar bear and her cub rummage through garbage looking for food at the town dump. Due to a change in climate it is becoming more difficult for polar bears to reach their prime hunting spots on the ice. As a result, famished polar bears make their way into human settlements like Arviat. Ed Ou—Reportage by Getty Images  Pangnirtung, Canada, Nov. 16, 2013\. Annie Ishlutak (right), 7, reaches into a near empty refrigerator as her father Levi (left), 35, cleans his rifle upon returning from a hunting trip. Ed Ou—Reportage by Getty Images  Arviat, Canada, Oct. 19, 2013\. Brian Tagalik, 28, peers out the window of a house during a hunting trip. Born in the Arctic and schooled in the south of Canada, Brian says he feels lost between the modern way of life and the dying traditions of his ancestors. Ed Ou—Reportage by Getty Images  Baffin Island, Sept. 5, 2013\. A polar bear collapses on the ground after being shot by Inuit hunters. The Inuit in Canada have traditionally hunted polar bears for subsistence and income to provide for their families, and continue to do so to this day with the blessing of the government. Ed Ou—Reportage by Getty Images  Baffin Island, Sept. 5, 2013\. Inuit hunters Leesee Papatsie (left) and Peterloosie Ninna Papatsie stand over the body of a polar bear they shot to death moments earlier. Ed Ou—Reportage by Getty Images  Arviat, Canada, Nov. 4, 2013\. Inuit elders Mark and Angie Eetak cut off the fat from the pelt of a polar bear, which was shot days earlier. A single polar bear pelt can sell for over $10,000 – economic salvation for many impoverished Inuit families. Ed Ou—Reportage by Getty Images  Nov. 13, 2013\. People gather around the floor of a kitchen during a feast of hunted foods. Ed Ou—Reportage by Getty Images  Arviat, Canada on Nov. 2, 2013\. Seven-month-old Henry Edward Thompson drinks baby formula in bed. Ed Ou—Reportage by Getty Images  Arviat, Canada, Oct. 16, 2013\. William Tiktaq (left), 28, and Brian Tagalik (right), 28, compete with each other in an Inuit head pull competition. Inuit games are played as a way to pass the time during the cold arctic winters and to test and develop the skills required for hunting and arctic survival. Ed Ou—Reportage by Getty Images  Arviat, Canada, Oct. 19, 2013\. Kristy Cablutsiak, Sharon Aulatjut, and Katelyn Tiktaq gather to play 'Frankies', a dice game. Everyone puts money into a pool at the beginning of each game, and players must roll a consecutive combination of matching dice to win the pot. The game is played until the money runs out. Ed Ou—Reportage by Getty Images  Canada, Sept. 17, 2013\. Kelly Amaujaq Fraser (left) dances with friends at a bar. Ed Ou—Reportage by Getty Images  Pangnirtung, Canada, Nov. 14, 2013\. Upon returning from a hunting trip, Levi Ishlutak walks home with his sons (left to right) Dimitri, 17, Paul, 12, and Damien, 10. Ed Ou—Reportage by Getty Images  Arviat, Canada, Nov. 4, 2013\. The frozen pelt of a polar bear, shot days earlier, thaws in a bathtub. 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