1a Department of Resource Economics & Environmental Sociology , University of Alberta , Edmonton , Alberta , Canada.
2b
Department of Resource Economics & Environmental Sociology/Faculty
of Native Studies , University of Alberta , Edmonton , Alberta , Canada
Abstract
Chronic
wasting disease (CWD) is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy
(TSE) found in both farmed and wild deer, elk, and moose in the United
States and Canada. Surveillance efforts in North America identified the
geographical distribution of the disease and mechanisms underlying
distribution, although the possibility of transmission to other cervids,
including caribou, and noncervids, including humans, is not well
understood. Because of the documented importance of caribou (Rangifer
tarandus) to human populations in the northern regions of Canada, a
risk-management strategy for CWD requires an understanding of the extent
of potential dietary exposure to CWD. Secondary 24-h dietary recalls
conducted among Inuvialuit and Inuit in 4 communities in the Northwest
Territories and Nunavut were employed in this study. Econometric demand
systems were estimated to model the impacts of individual- and
community-level socioeconomic characteristics on expenditures on caribou
and other foods, in order to examine the households' ability to consume
other foods in response to changing levels of caribou consumption.
Thirty-five percent of respondents reported consuming caribou in the
survey period, and caribou comprised, on average, 26% of daily dietary
intake by weight, or approximately 65 g/d, across individuals in the 4
communities. Consuming caribou was also shown to exert positive impacts
on dietary quality, as measured by calorie intake and dietary diversity.
Communities with less access to employment, income and food stores are
predicted to be constrained in their ability to obtain an adequate diet
in the event of scarcity of caribou meat.
