Indigenous hunts must be non-commercial, Greenepeace

Greenpeace, 1436 U Street NW, Washington DC 20009, Tel (202) 462 1177

Dear Sir,

Recently, we have received a number of calls from our supporters stating that upon contacting the Danish embassy to protest the Danish Olympic athletes wearing seal skin coats they were told that Greenpeace supported this action. This is untrue. We respectfully request that you discontinue the use of our organization's name when responding to these calls.

Greenpeace understands that the Danish government has stated that the decision to clothe their Olympic athletes in sealskins was made in order to promote the importance of Inuit culture, which includes their subsistence hunt for seals, to the Danish people. Greenpeace does not oppose sealing which is done primarily for subsistence purposes.

We do, however, continue to oppose commercial sealing, and would oppose any attempts by the Danish government or the Greenland government to exploit this expression of cultural solidarity in order to develop a commercial seal hunt. Thus, we do not support the Danish Olympic team wearing sealskins coats.

If you have any further questions on our seal policy please contact the Washington, DC office at (202) 462-1177.

Sincerely,


Thomas G. Johnson jr.
sign.




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Greenpeace statement on markets
for Greenlandic seal garnments

Greenpeace does not oppose subsistence hunts for seals by native Greenlandics. We do, however, continue to oppose commercial sealing. We understand that the seal garments worn by Danish athletes do not represent an effort to develop a commercial market, but rather are being displayed to promote the importance of Greenlandic culture to the Danish peoples.

Source: Greenpeace International, January 1992.

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