Greenland rolls out new hunting regulations

As of Jan. 1, Greenlanders have to follow new rules and regulations for hunting. Despite protests from the Greenlandic hunters and trappers organization, KNAPS, the Greenland Home Rule Parliament approved new restrictions on the length of hunting seasons and placed a gradual phase-out on the use of lead pellets.

The new rules limit the hunting season on 18 bird species, and places a total ban on the hunting of five species. Egg-picking from these species is also banned.

As of next year, lead pellets will be prohibited as ammunition, after several cases of lead poisoning were linked to the consumption of birds killed with lead pellets.

“We’re be lying to ourselves if we didn’t follow biological advice and cautionary principles. We need to live with these restrictions in order to save the species, so future generations may take pleasure in Greenland’s birds,” Alfred Jakobsen, Greenland’s minister of the environment, told the Copenhagen Post.