To Mr. Per Henning Hamnes, Managing Director, GC Rieber Skinn
Cc: Marina Antonsen, Export Manager Russia

Dear Mr. Hamnes,

I am contacting you as the private individual and just as the citizen of Russia, not affiliated with any animal welfare organisation but nevertheless caring for nature and wildlife in my native country. My concern is that Your company is referred to by the Russian authorities as the main provider of funds and the main co-actor for the planned 2008 slaughter of seal cubs at the White Sea coasts. I know personally the situation in some of the communities formerly involved in the seal cub massacre. And I am sure that this business has no long-term profits for the community, and on the contrary it mainly supports corrupt authorities outside these communities.

I am confident that the White Sea areas, where poor local people have to sell themselves for seal hunting operation as one of the few sources of income throughout the whole year, can have many other ways of sustainable development. A lot can be done now for wildlife, ethnic and ecotourism development in these areas with only restriction that this is part of the Russian national border zone. However with the new flow of funding from your company the mass slaughter of seal cubs will continue deferring the alternative development solutions – and this makes me seriously concerned.

I am aware that seal hunting is completely prohibited in your own country. In Canada, where your company is said to be involved as well, you likely also know that hunting is going only because of the need to support Inuit communities and their traditional life style. Mass hunting for seal cubs was never the tradition of local White Sea population; it is on the contrary the cruel heritage of the Soviet system that introduced this slaughter with all new technologies added – like the use of helicopters. It is therefore not the traditional economy of the White Sea pomors, and thus cannot be justified. Besides, the use of modern technologies in such operations makes this whole business fully unjust towards nature.

I fully respect that the business agreements are largely confidential, and do not call upon any transparency in terms of funds and quotas and procedures. But I still want to draw your attention to the fact that many people in Russia do not support this mass seal hunting operations. Spring hunting for seal cubs has little short-term but larger negative long-term effect in the local communities, and generates corruption around this whole business.

I sincerely hope that you will draw out of these activities in my country.

Sincerely yours,

Dr. Elena Lebedeva-Hooft,
Biologist, private consultant,
Moscow