Greenland hunters shoot bowhead

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

Hunters in Greenland shot a bowhead whale that was caught up in a fishing net last weekend.

Greenland National Radio said the whale was partly entangled, and the fishermen asked the local officials whether they should kill the whale, which is the practice for humpbacks that become entangled.

The animal is reported to have escaped from the net as night fell, but it had been injured from attempts by the hunters to kill it with rifles.

In 2000, hunters killed a fin whale, the second largest whale species, under similar circumstances. It sank and was lost.