ABSTRACT

With the dogs in particular, their relation to other species is inherently unstable. They may be co-hunters, helping their masters to get meat, or they may themselves be meat, enabling people to survive a meagre period. For the Inughuit community as a whole the current waning of the bear-hunt is part of a larger vicious circle of dwindling ice, destabilization of the walrus hunt, famished dogs, and strict quotas on the bear. The hunt itself involves different animal species, either as game, or as hunting companions in the case of the dog. Dogs are are so through their relations to both humans and their prey. In present day Thule, dogs are still very prominent. In Thule, dogs certainly hold together the inhabited part of what is otherwise an unmarked region. Thule region, where people eagerly awaited them each summer for bartering.