Wild meat $100 a pound

HUNTERS all over the country are smiling all the way to the bank, or grocery as the case may be, as an increased demand for wild meat — a popular Boxing Day delicacy — has sent prices sky-high with certain wild meat retailing for as much as $100 per pound. Checks with several hunting organisations yesterday revealed that despite the high prices for such local favourites as lappe, agouti, deer and tattoo, wild meat lovers are willingly coughing up the dough to get their hands on the meat.

South-Eastern Hunters’ Association president Mohan Bholasingh said there has been an increased demand for wild meat this month  with lappe and tattoo (armadillo) selling as high as $100 per pound. He warned however that the high price of wild meat could commercialise the hunting season, which runs from October 1 to  February 28, and which could affect local wildlife population. Mayaro hunter Wayne Rolingson told Newsday yesterday that deer meat was selling at $75 per pound and most hunters were unable to supply demand last week, Rolingson added while deer meat was selling at $75 per pound, quenk (wild pig) was retailing at $35 per pound.

Bholasingh said most bulk purchases of wild meat were made by businessmen holding parties. During a Christmas get-together  of the Siparia Hunters’ Association last Friday, members expressed alarm over the high price of agouti, lappe and tattoo, and the fact that demand had outstripped supply. Bholasingh told Newsday in order to allow the local wildlife time to “catch itself from the excessive hunting,” but at the same time satisfy local demand for wild meat, Government should allow a limited importation of wild meat from neighbouring Venezuela, whose wildlife is similar to this country’s.