ANCHORAGE — Subsistence hunters in Alaska’s North Slope Borough have harvested a 41-foot bowhead whale, marking the fourth animal that has been captured during the borough’s spring whale hunt.
Benjamin Frederick Tagarook and his crew brought in the whale on Saturday in Wainwright. The captain’s father, Terry Tagarook, said migrating whales seem to be making an appearance earlier than usual this spring, Anchorage news station KTUU-TV reported.
“This is early for us,” Tagarook said.
The weekend’s harvest comes after another reported whale capture on April 10. That whale was harvested by Clark Land’s crew in the village of Point Hope.
A 43-foot female bowhead was harvested on April 5 by Carl Pelowook Jr. and his team, according to reports from the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission.
Pelowook’s crew also caught the borough’s first whale this spring on March 27. The whale was a 42-foot male.
___
Information from: KTUU-TV, http://www.ktuu.com
