Hundreds of pilot whales and dolphins are killed every summer in the Faroe Islands in drive hunts known as the "grind," which locals defend as a long-standing custom.
The hunt usually draws harsh condemnation from across the world, but never more so than last week, when a particularly large capture resulted in the slaughter of 1,428 dolphins in one day, raising concerns on the island about a practice that environmentalists have long considered inhumane.
Hundreds of dolphins lined up on the beach, some of them chopped up by what looked to be propellers, the sea crimson with blood, stunned some of the "grind's" most ardent fans and caused alarm in the archipelago's vital fishing sector.
For the first time, the local administration of the autonomous Danish archipelago in the North Atlantic's depths announced it will re-evaluate laws regarding dolphin slaughter in particular, without contemplating an outright ban.
"It was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. In the Faroe Islands, this is the largest capture "One of the hunter-fishermen present at the incident in the hamlet of Skala, Jens Mortan Rasmussen, said.
A slaughterhouse in the open air While he is accustomed to criticism, he said that this time was "a bit different."
"Fish exporters are receiving a slew of angry phone calls from their customers, and the salmon business has NOW mobilized to oppose dolphin slaughter. It's a first for me."
The Faroe Islands, which have a population of 50,000 people, have traditionally hunted pilot whales in a technique known as "grindadrap," or "grind."
Normally, approximately 600 pilot whales are captured each year in this manner, with fewer dolphins.
The Faroese defend the hunt by claiming that their seas are teeming with whales, dolphins, and porpoises (over 100,000, or two per capita).
According to Vincent Kelner, maker of a documentary on the "grind," they view it as an open-air butcher similar to the millions of animals slaughtered behind closed doors across the globe.
For the Faroe Islanders, it has historical significance: without this sea meat, their people would have perished.
'Overwhelmed' However, when fisherman targeted a particularly large school of dolphins on September 12, the size of the harvest in the vast fjord astounded them.
The large quantity of beached animals delayed the killing, which "took a lot longer than a typical grind," according to Rasmussen.
"It's extremely tough to send the dolphins out to sea when they reach the shore; they always return to the beach." The fisherman were "overwhelmed," according to Kelner.
He said, "It hurts their dignity because it calls into doubt the professionalism they sought to establish."
While defending the tradition as sustainable, the archipelago's prime minister, Bardur a Steig Nielsen, stated on Thursday that the government will reconsider "dolphin hunts and what role they should play in Faroese culture." Critics claim that the Faroese can no longer use the rationale of subsistence to justify the slaughter of whales and dolphins.
"It's outrageous for such a hunt to take place in 2021 in a very wealthy European island community... with no need or use for such a vast quantity of contaminated meat," said Rob Read, chief operating officer of the marine conservation NGO Sea Shepherd, referring to high mercury levels in dolphin meat.
The search, according to the NGO, allegedly violated numerous regulations.
"The district's grind foreman was never notified, and as a result, the hunt was never authorized," it stated in a statement.
It also alleges that many of the participants lacked a license, "which is needed in the Faroe Islands since it entails specialized training in how to swiftly kill pilot whales and dolphins," according to the report.
"Photos indicate several of the dolphins were driven over by motorboats, basically chopped by propellers, resulting in a protracted and agonizing death," according to the report.
According to Hallur av Rana, a Faroese journalist, although a vast majority of islanders support the "grind" in general, 53 percent reject dolphin slaughter.
"There is no question that the Faroese whale hunts are a spectacular spectacle for those unfamiliar with whale hunts and killing," a government official told AFP.
"However, the hunts are well-organized and thoroughly controlled," he added.
The North Atlantic islands, which have a population of approximately 50,000 people, have traditionally hunted pilot whales rather than dolphins, according to the spokesperson.
"There are typically a couple of them in the 'grind,' but we don't generally kill such a big number," said Hallur av Rana, a local television journalist.
The "grindadrap" is a technique in which whale hunters surround them with a large semi-circle of fishing boats before driving them into a harbor to be beached and killed.
"It seems to be very severe, and it took some time to kill them all, which is unusual," av Rana added.
On social media, photos of the bleeding bodies of over 1,000 Atlantic white-sided dolphins on the beach aroused anger.
Despite the fact that 53% of the population of the islands opposes the "grind," there are no plans to end the practice, according to av Rana.
Authorities claim that it is a sustainable hunting method.
Sea Shepherd, a group that fights against whale and dolphin killing, called it a "barbaric activity." Local estimates put the number of pilot whales in the seas surrounding the Faroe Islands at 100,000, with 600 killed last year.
According to residents and activists familiar with the situation, this hunt was the biggest in recent Faroe Islands history.
Previous hunts, known locally as "grinds" (short for grindadráp in Faroese), mostly targeted pilot whales (Globicephala spp.) in pods of a few hundred to several thousand.
Valentina Crast of Sea Shepherd, an organization that has been fighting the Faroese cetacean hunts since the 1980s, believes they are a remnant of the past and have no place in contemporary society.
She said that this hunt was especially cruel since there were insufficient participants, and that as a consequence, most of the dolphins died inhumanely.
In a Zoom interview with Mongabay, Crast said,
"It was absolutely terrible."
“We discovered that many of them were not properly murdered. So, despite being tossed upon the shore and presumed dead, they were still alive. They were thrashing each other. We mistakenly believe that since these creatures can't cry or show their agony, they aren't in pain.”
The hunt was not permitted, according to local media sources.
According to local news source In.fo, Heri Petersen, the foreman in charge of authorizing any hunts in Eysturoy, he was not informed about the hunt and therefore did not authorize it.
“I'm furious about it, and I'm putting a lot of space between myself and it,” Petersen added.
According to Crast, failing to get authorization from the proper supervisor is a breach of a local Faroese "grind law." Many residents have voiced their displeasure with the hunt, but not everyone feels comfortable speaking out in public.
Bára Olsen (not her actual name), a local lady from the Faroe Islands who has just lately begun opposing the hunts for animal rights grounds, told Mongabay that the latest incident had startled her.
In a phone conversation with Mongabay, Olsen said, "What occurred on Sunday was just terrible." “There is a lot of anger right now over the dolphin killing; I've never seen anything like it.”
Another Faroese resident, Johan Andreasen (not his actual name), told Mongabay that although he does not oppose pilot whale hunting and has even participated in past hunts, he does not support the current dolphin hunt.
In a phone conversation with Mongabay, he said, "Things's not how we do it." “It's never been our way of doing things. "
“At least 200 to 300 whales had beached themselves fully up onto the beach, and instead of going after those whales, the hunters were actually swimming out, catching the ones that were swimming around,” Andreasen said.
“That takes up a lot of time. And when the whales lie down on the beach, the pressure from their bodies pressing against the sand would press on their lungs, which is equally cruel to leave them there for so long without immediately murdering them.”
Nielsen stated in a statement, "We take this issue very seriously."
“Although these hunts are deemed sustainable, we will be paying careful attention to the dolphin hunts and how they should be integrated into Faroese culture. The government has decided to review the rules governing the capture of Atlantic white-sided dolphins.”
“As far as I know,” Vestergaard told the Faroese news station Kringvarp Froya, “every single animal has been slaughtered in a responsible manner.”
Fabienne McLellan, co-director of international relations at Swiss NGO OceanCare, said she respected and welcomed the news that the Faroese prime minister would be reviewing the recent hunt, but that “what it really means” is still unclear.
In an email to Mongabay, she said, "We are of the opinion that such evaluation should be expanded to the general practice of the grind, as well as an inquiry into the grind from September 12th should be part of this process."
Sea Shepherd's Crast expressed her hope that increased worldwide attention to the problem would help put an end to these customary hunts.
“This time, the Faroese community is enraged,” she said.
“They're pushing it on their own, and there's a huge discussion [among] themselves about it.
And I'm hoping it will be sufficient to compel politicians to act.”
Please Sign This Petition To Stop the Inhabitants of the Faroe Islands from Slaughtering Dolphins and Pilot Whales.
Every summer in the Faroe Islands, about 800 whales and dolphins die in a horrific and savage rite of mass murder.
Once upon a time, it was customary to utilize and consume their flesh, but today, some people prefer to allow the meat to rot in the sun, just taking the lives of marine animals for some twisted pleasure justified by a cultural practice.
This was the 11th "hunt" carried out in the Faroe Islands during what they term the 2018 hunting season, according to Sea Shepherd, an environmental organization working hard to stop the yearly slaughter.
This has been going on since at least the late 16th century, but it has now degenerated into a horribly egotistical, cruel, and useless spectacle that is likely to enrage and inspire animal lovers all around the globe.
The organization that recorded this tragedy claims that approximately 62,000 pilot whales and dolphins have died as a result of the Faroese hunt in the last 50 years.
In the Faroe Islands, it is estimated that 1,691 dolphins and whales were killed in 24 grindadráp hunts in 2017.
Laughing fisherman herd these gorgeous and clever animals into coastal inlets, where they are mercilessly murdered.
Before the stranded animals' spines are severed, metal hooks are pushed into their blowholes.
The creatures bleed to death slowly.
Whole families are killed, and some whales and dolphins spend hours swimming in the blood of their loved ones.
We urge Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II to utilize her enormous moral influence to put a stop to this terrible and brutal murder, even though the Faroe Islands are an independent territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
