Malcolm Brabant writes: \u00a0Greenland\u2019s Inuit chefs, clad in sealskin outfits and trousers fashioned from polar bear fur, will not be offended if MEPs decline morsels of the whiskered marine mammal from the grill. But the chefs hope that their planned cookery session will help to convince European lawmakers to reverse what they regard as a misguided ban on the importation of seal products that is driving a centuries-old way of life to the edge of extinction.<\/p>\n
Exports of seal pelts have plummeted by 90% since the introduction of the European ban in 2009. The impact on subsistence economies in Greenland\u2019s 60 coastal communities has been catastrophic. \u201cIt\u2019s a tragic situation for us,\u201d says Karl Lyberth, a hunter who used to be Greenland\u2019s minister of fishing, agriculture and food. \u201cA lot of people in the EU don\u2019t understand our way of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
A delegation of Greenland seal hunters will board a bus in Copenhagen on Monday for the journey to Strasbourg to lobby parliamentarians.<\/p>\n
They are steeling themselves for a clash of cultures and a struggle to change public perceptions. The hunters\u2019 main hurdle is to overcome the image promulgated by animal welfare campaigners of helpless cuddly baby seals being clubbed to death on ice floes in Canada.<\/p>\n
International public outrage at the annual Canadian cull contributed in no small way to the European moratorium. \u201cTo a large extent it\u2019s the last call for a lot of the hunters,\u2019 says Rasmus Holm of Inuit Sila, the Greenlandic Hunters and Fishermen\u2019s Association. \u201cIf the current crisis continues, they won\u2019t have any alternative but to claim social security.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0 Malcolm Brabant writes: \u00a0Greenland\u2019s Inuit chefs, clad in sealskin outfits and trousers fashioned from polar bear fur, will not be offended if MEPs decline morsels of the whiskered marine mammal from the grill. But the chefs hope that their planned … Continue reading ![\"Inuit](\"http:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Inuit-tent-of-seal-skins.jpg\")
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