"Huskies and Hunters: Living and Dying in Arctic Greenland"

A few words on an article by Rick De Vos
 

Our Romantic cloud now takes us to a place even more remote than before. Greenland. Living in cities we seem to utterly ‘romanticise’ these faraway relationships between ‘man’ and the animal — a true and ancient companionship perceived emancipated from modern power dynamics. We presuppose that the animal here is ‘free,’ unconditioned, unlike the domestic animal. No matter how much one loves their pet, there is always a voice somewhere which wonders whether you have oppressed it, taken it out of its natural landscape and made it a slave to satisfy your own hedonistic novelties. Even those who rescue pets seem to be met with the question, at least once by their own consciousness — ‘why live with a difficult animal?’ Anna Heyward personal article, 'Bad Dog' provides one answer to that:

Even as a parasitic presence, the dog creates things that are hard to measure from an evolutionary point of view—love and delight. A helpful way to think of it is that to love another animal so different and useless is to remind ourselves of how strange, complex, and irresponsible our behavior as humans can be. (Bad Dog)

But there is no escaping a confrontation with our fallibilities, and destruction in particular towards more-than-human species. Hence we tend to look to the past, to ancient civilisations, to in order to find solace, and the possibility of a ‘symbiotic relationship’ that promises cohabitation and an understanding between two species. Traces of this untainted relationship are sought after in remote communities such as in Greenland. Furthermore, the proliferation of the incredibly beautiful photographs by nature photographers really augments that Romantic cloud.

The resilience of the animal depicted is awe-inspiring. It creates a similar perception about the human-dog relationship as the Romantic poet had with the pastoral landscape.

Pastoral Literature:

n.

— a class of literature that presents the society of shepherds as free from the complexity and corruption of city life. Many of the idylls written in its name are far remote from the realities of any life, rustic or urban.

(Britannica)

However, Rick De Vos’ article, 'Huskies and Hunters: Living and Dying in Arctic Greenland,' reveals a startling reality about the true conditions of working dogs in these 'idyllic' geographical areas. The article provides an in-depth summary of the complex relationships between Greenland huskies and people from hunters to ordinary school children. De Vos outlines:

[…] Greenland huskies are confined spatially, temporally and physically, and their perspectives, welfare and ultimately their deaths are concealed and forgotten. The chapter is instigated by a particular instance of Death I encounter in Qaanaaq and found hard to understand and discuss. (277)

As the author states, this article is hard to read for an animal lover. But it is even harder to read for someone who once naively believed the pastoral image of a pure relationship between human beings and animals, but in particular, our most paradoxical relationship — with our beloved dogs.

On a concluding note, the following was perhaps the most eye-opening passage from the article. It truly captures the sensation of being stuck entrapped by conditions that have been created by the other for the animal - in this instance, the other is us. 

Greenland huskies possess a liminal status, afforded neither the status of hunters nor the attention and respect given to hunted wildlife. They are neither celebrated nor mourned. They facilitate dogsledding and hunting, and as working animals are viewed as property and transportation, despite having helped to shape the social environment in which they live and die and despite being active participants in human life. Their space is restricted by the sea ice and changing climate, the geographical limits of settlements, designated dog areas, and by physical tethers and harnesses. Their time is restricted by the seasons and the opportunities for hunting, and by their perceived ability to work effectively, and their future generations are restricted by selective and ill-informed breeding control. (289)

~ Vedika Rampal

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Cited Texts:

De Vos, Rick. "Huskies and Hunters: Living and Dying in Arctic Greenland." In Animal Death, edited by Johnston Jay and Probyn-Rapsey Fiona, 277-92. Australia: Sydney University Press, 2013. www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1gxxpvf.22

Heyward, Anna. “Bad Dog.” The New Yorker. 2021. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/bad-dog