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On Aug. 3, six boats carrying hunters from Clyde River, Nunavut, converged on a pregnant bowhead whale and, in a dramatic 90-minute struggle that saw explosions, a flurry of harpoon thrusts and the loss of one of the boats, the 60-foot-long animal was brought to heel. 

It was the community’s first whale hunt in more than 100 years, and exuberant locals were still peeling muktuk (fatty skin) off the whale’s hulking carcass when congratulations flowed in from one of the most unlikely sources imaginable: Greenpeace. 

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The group whose name is synonymous with Save the Whales put out a press release to “honour” the people of Clyde River for taking out a mammal still considered endangered in parts of the Arctic. 

“Greenpeace respects the rights of Clyde River and other indigenous communities to sustainable, traditional hunting and fishing,” said Greenpeace Arctic campaigner Farrah Khan in a statement.