Big game hunters lured by 'barbaric' �10,000 trips
Sick tourist officials are inviting big gam hunters to Greenland to shoot polar bears. Bloodthirsty tourists will pay �10,000 for a four-day expedition and to keep the bear skins as a trophy.
Under current law only natives of the island can kill the bears, but the tourist board plans to change the rules.
Local authorities want to cash in on the impending ban on fox-hunting in England, which may see rich hunters looking for thrills abroad.
Officials in Greenland hope the gun-toting holidays will boost the local economy and create jobs. But anti-hunt groups yesterday branded them "barbaric".
Late last year there were earnings that polar bears - the biggest land carnivores on Earth - face extinction this century if the Arctic continues to melt at its present rate.
Scientific group Arctic Climate Impact Assessment found that the sea ice around the North Pole is shrinking so swiftly it could disappear by the year 3000. Polar bears depend on this ice for hunting.
Yesterday Peter Anderson, a spokesman for the League Against Cruel Sports, said: "Authorities in Greenland may think they are helping their economy but they are completely ignoring the rights of the polar bear not to be massacred.
"Big game hunting is a bloody and barbaric business. It is completely unnecessary and cruel."
Thereare about 5,000 polar bears in Greenland and local hunters kill up to 100 a year. Their meat is a good source of food and their hides are used to make clothes, but locals are fobidden from selling any bear parts.
The hunters use snow and ice behicles to chase the animals, which weigh up to 100 stone and are 9ft 6in tall when standing.
Once in range they are cut down with rifles strong enough to kill them with one shot.
Greenland's Fishing and Hunting Directorate experts too have cleared the way for foreigners to join the hunts next year.
Experts fear the bear population will plummet. But Greenland's official have defended the macabre holidays, claiming the numbers will not be affected.
Mads Skift, a consultant at the island's national tourist board, said: "We are working with the biologists to ensure the population remains healthy - there is no danger of numbers falling.
"Anyone who comes to shoot polar bears will be trained and accompanied by local hunters who know what they are doing.
"We expect that people who go after the reall big trophies and have already been on elephant hunts will come. There is already a lot of interest."
A charge has not been settled on but Mr Skift estimated it would be about �10,000. This price will include a tax for taking the skins of the animals home as trophies.
Nick Baker, a presenter of the BBC's Really Wild Show, condemned the plan.
He said: "It's heinous. The polar bear is already vulnerable because of melting ice flows. To put it under extra pressure through persecution, hunting it for sport or profit, is a horrible, horrible thing.
"What kind of sport is hunting polar bears anyway - they're hardly difficult to spot."
There are an estimated 22,000 worldwide, padding across the ice in Russie, Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Norway. More than 15,000 live in Canada, the only nation where non-natives can hunt them.
This enables native hunters to sell their permits for large sums.
But having three-quarters of the world population, the Canadian authorities see it as an effective cull, taking out the weak and the bears which pose a threat.
Unregulated hunting of polar bear was ended more than 30 years ago by the International Agreement for the Conservation of Polar Bears - a deal Greenland looks set to throw away.
It may even use UK travel forms to help market the holidays.
Mr Anderson added: "We will be investigating any British companies which promotoe the polar bear hunts. Trophy hunting is an abomination."
(taken from the Daily Express, on Tuesday January 18th, 2005)
At a time when there is increasing concern over the future of endangered species such as polar bears, it is incredible to learn tjhat Greenland is actively promoting hunting of these animals.
To allow the killing of polar bears for fun is cruel and totally pointless. When a price is put on the head of an animal to make a financiel killing, there is often no reward for the welfare of the animals involved. The old-fashioned idea of trophy hunting should be consigned to history.
Readers can protest by writing to:
Hans Enoksen, the premier of Greenland, at the Greenlandic Embassy, c/o Royal Danish Embassy in London, 55 Sloane Street, London SW1X 9SR, or email: [email protected]
Victor Watkins
World Society for the Proection of Animals
(taken from the Daily Express, on Thursday January 10th, 2005)