NATION IN BRIEF : ALASKA : Eskimos to Hunt Protected Caribou

Hungry Eskimos, armed with U.S. court-ordered permits to kill 50 caribou from a protected herd, prepared for an emergency hunt to get fresh meat for their southwestern Alaska village of Kwethluk. U.S. District Judge H. Russel Holland ruled that Kwethluk’s urgent need for meat outweighed state desires to protect the herd until it grows big enough to support such hunts in the future. “We’re real happy about it,” said Kwethluk Village Council Vice President Moses Nicolai. Regional game biologist Randy Kacyon said he expects the hunting permits to go quickly, and Nicolai said hunters would be out on snowy trails today in a hunt expected to last a week. Kwethluk has 454 people, nearly all Yupik Eskimos who hunt and fish for food.