快猫短视频

A Farewell to Greenland鈥檚 Wildlife by Kjeld Hansen, NHB Mailorder Bookstore (Fax: +44 (0)1803 865280), 拢15, ISBN 8789723015

AUTOMATIC rifles, motorised dinghies and even video recorders are pushing many of Greenland鈥檚 wildlife species towards the same sad fate as the dodo and the great auk.

Hunting has always been a way of life for the Inuit in one of the world鈥檚 last great wildernesses, but now they have far greater mobility and firepower. And hunting is no longer a simple necessity that feeds the hunter鈥檚 family鈥攊t鈥檚 big business. Companies set up by the Greenland government will buy the carcass or valuable parts of any animal that strays within shooting distance of the island鈥檚 10,000 registered hunters. So thousands more are killed to pay for the same electronic goods and luxuries demanded by consumers everywhere.

Kjeld Hansen assesses the impact of this indiscriminate slaughter on Greenland鈥檚 鈥渓iving resources鈥�: its seabirds, marine mammals, fish and molluscs. He disputes the hunting lobby鈥檚 claim that hunters live in harmony with nature and take only what they need. His evidence? Thousands of tonnes of meat left to rot in the snow because no one wants it. Most Greenlanders prefer pork or lamb imported from Denmark, the former colonial power.

A natural harvest could be sustainable if it were more tightly regulated. Even so, species such as Br眉nnich鈥檚 guillemots (thick-billed murres) will need decades of peace to recover their numbers, he says in A Farewell to Greenland鈥檚 Wildlife. If the Greenland government won鈥檛 listen to its own environmental advisers, then perhaps it will respond to pressure from outside, bearing in mind that a huge annual subsidy of $300 million raised from Danish taxpayers sustains the whole wasteful enterprise.