Taloyoak hunters land their bowhead whale

Hunters from Taloyoak, Nunavut, harvested a bowhead whale Thursday night.

Abel Aqqaq, chair of the hunt committee, said the whale was caught at about 7 p.m. MT.

"Even though it was dark outside, the people of Taloyoak were in a festive mood, joyful that the hunt was successful," he said in Inuktitut.

Now the job begins of butchering the whale and bringing it back to the community, which will require transporting it 35 kilometres overland across the Boothia Peninsula.

They haven't measured the whale yet.

The hunters from Taloyoak set off last weekend. Earlier in the week, they had spotted a few whales but could not reach them because of ice.

Each year, three Nunavut communities are given licences to harvest one of the massive whales. Arctic Bay and Repulse Bay harvested their whales several weeks ago.