Thursday, December 04, 2008

Hunting baby whales

Janet and I were in Greenland recently and we had a great time exploring the spectacular scenery, very wild and unspoiled by humans:



One day we hired a native guide and took a ride into the frontier and came upon a spectacular site of a baby whale feeding in an isolated Ocean inlet:


The baby whale is at center, bottom

It was remarkable, not a human anywhere in sight, pristibe nature at it's finest. But the mood was soon spolied. Within minutes of our seeing the baby whale our Eskimo guide was on his sat phone, telling his friends the exact location of this baby, soon to become a tasty treat:


Baby whale feeding in a Greenland inlet

It was neat to get so close to a wild whale, but sad to know that it was soon going to die a violent death:



Janet threw a fit abnout killing a baby, but we learned that the Eskimo’s have full rights to hunt and eat whales, and that a nice baby whale will feed their village for weeks.



They even serve whale and baby seal in the finer restaurants in Greenland, and seal clubbing is the approved method of dispatching baby seals!



Our guide laughed at Janet and dais that the whales are killed instantly with special whale guns and the death of the baby whale would be quick, painless and delicious. The good taste of baby whale may all be relative, since these people also eat sea birds which taste beyond nasty:


Yummy seagulls for sale at a Greenland market

See my notes here on visiting Greenland.