Inuit hunters have “hearts as dark as the foul breath of demons from the bottomless pit of hell have prevailed,” according to Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Society, in response to the 560 narwhal whales that were recently killed in the Arctic. The whales, first noticed by the Inuit hunters tracking polar bears, were caught under the ice. Once it was realized that there was no way for the whales to escape, the okay was giving to the hunters to cull the narwhals.

Breathing holes had been cut into the ice for the whales, but since the nearest icebreaker was about a week away, it was decided that culling the animals was more human than letting them drown. Although not all are in agreement.

Watson has been the most vocal and ruthless in his protest, emailing the head the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, Terry Audla, claiming that the hunters were “ruthless Inuit killers” who took pleasure in the slaughter of the whales, laughing “barbarously.” Others have sent Audla emails with equally harsh words, something that upsets and frustrates him, in particular the cultural slurs. “It’s sad to know that there are still people out there like that,” he said in regards to the protests. “The hunters involved are going through what they’re going through with a heavy heart”.

While the Humane Society of Canada also protested the hunt, they did so based on the treatment of the animals, not any perceived cultural difference. According to executive director Michael O’Sullivan, “I never let the `cultural use’ argument interrupt what I say for animals. My job is to talk for animals because it looks like no one else will.”

While the Human Society of Canada had offered up $10,000 to hire an ice breaker to free the trapped whales, it was decided that mostly likely the icebreaker would not have reached the whales in time and they would have died form starvation or drowning.

The culling of the trapped whales is finally over and a celebration has been set for this coming Saturday in Pond Inlet, Nunavut, where the majority of the hunters live.