Leaders with Nunavut's land-claim organization say they want scientists to stop tranquillizing polar bears and other wildlife, citing the concerns of Inuit elders and hunters about the impact of that practice on their health.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. says local hunting and trapping organizations, as well as elders across the territory, are worried about the negative health effects of drugging polar bears with tranquillizer darts.

They want tranquillizing to be discontinued and new methods developed that would be safer both for animals and for the people who hunt and eat them for their daily sustenance.

Speaking in Inuktitut, NTI second vice-president Raymond Ningeocheak told CBC News Wednesday that animals that have been drugged should not be consumed for at least one year after being hunted.

"Stop tranquillizing the wild animals, because we rely on these animals to survive," Ningeocheak said.

He said Inuit who eat traditional food, also known as "country food," would "prefer not to consume animals affected by it, whether it be polar bear meat or any other wild game."

Ningeocheak said scientific research is currently being done on polar bears in parts of Nunavut where people go hunting, including the Davis Strait, Foxe Basin and Hudson Bay.

And although Inuit in the territory rely on country food for their survival, he said little research has been done on the effects of tranquillizing animals on people's health.

Earlier this month, Rankin Inlet North MLA Tagak Curley called on the territorial government to stop supporting research on polar bears, raising similar worries about scientists tranquillizing and putting satellite tags on the animals.