It took me a while to work myself up to writing this post, especially after having seen these images. Every year the Faroe islanders embark on what they consider is fun: they drive hundreds of whales and dolphins into a bay, trap and brutally slaughter them. Because I can’t even comprehend why someone, leave alone large number of people, would act in such a brutal and senseless manner, I first thought that this story was some kind of cruel joke someone tried to spread via email; sadly though the story is real.
Whales are sensitive, social animals with highly developed nervous systems. They have a profound capacity to suffer distress, terror and pain. Each year, the Faroese kill pilot whales and other small cetaceans.
Islanders in motorboats first drive the whales into a bay. The chase may be lengthy. The exhausted, terrified and confused whales are eventually driven into the shallows. Here the bloodbath begins. The islanders repeatedly hammer 2.2 kg metal gaffs into the living flesh of each whale until the hooks hold. A 15 cm knife is then used to slash through the blubber and flesh to the spinal column. Next the main blood vessels are severed. The blood-stained bay is soon filled with horribly mutilated and dying whales.
The Faroese celebrate the butchery of their victims in an carnival atmosphere of entertainment. Indoctrinated from an early age, children are often given a day off school to watch the fun. They run down to the bay and clamber over the carcasses of slaughtered whales.
Every year around 2,000 whales are driven ashore and cruelly slaughtered in the Faroe Islands, mid-way between the Shetland Islands and Iceland. For centuries the Faroe Islanders have hunted pilot whales, driving entire schools into killing bays, where they are speared or gaffed from boats, dragged ashore and butchered with knives. Although the Islands are a protectorate of Denmark, they have their own Government and regulations governing the pilot whale hunt or “grind” as it is known.
Aside from the fact that the number of North Atlantic long-finned pilot whales is unknown and they are listed as ’strictly protected’ by the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, this is an act of barbarism and pointlessness. By slaughtering 100 whales at a time, the Faroese are wiping out entire pods and family groups. They are removing building blocks from the gene pool of the species and damaging the web of life in the North Atlantic and the North Sea.
The drive hunt is a practice abandoned elsewhere many decades ago, and now outlawed by other European states. The inhabitants of the Faroe Islands have no subsistence need for whale meat, and much of the flesh is left to rot and be dumped; it cannot be exported, as it is polluted with heavy metals and other toxins and therefore cannot meet EU heath standards for human food.
According to Faroese legislation it is also permitted to hunt certain species of small cetaceans other than pilot whales. These include: Bottlenose dolphin, Atlantic white-beaked dolphin, Atlantic white-sided dolphin and Harbour porpoise (there are even specific regulations for the hunting of harbour porpoise; they can be killed with shotguns).
You can sign a petition here to stop this senseless, barbaric brutality. Please forward this link on to people you know do care. Thank you!
This must be the worst piece of propaganda ever written. Interesting how animal welfare activist always tend to invent their own version of reality.
#1
“Every year the Faroe islanders embark on what they consider is fun: they drive hundreds of whales and dolphins into a bay, trap and brutally slaughter them”
Thats an interesting way of depicting an entire nation. Those barbarians of course think its FUN to SLAUGHTER whales…
Do people really buy into this emotional porn?!?
#2
“The chase may be lengthy. ”
It may. It may also be over in 5 minutes… but *hush*… dont tell anyone.
#3
“The exhausted, terrified and confused whales ”
Actually there hasn’t been any research into the mental state of the whales during a hunt.
#4
“The islanders repeatedly hammer 2.2 kg metal gaffs into the living flesh of each whale until the hooks hold.”
No they dont! The hook holds after the first try.
#5
“The Faroese celebrate the butchery of their victims in an carnival atmosphere of entertainment. ”
Thats just a blatant lie.
#6
“Indoctrinated from an early age, children are often given a day off school to watch the fun. ”
Another blatant lie.
#7
“They run down to the bay and clamber over the carcasses of slaughtered whales.”
Yet another blatant lie. But hey… I guess these lies are pretty effective of depicting these barbarians in an even crueler way.
#8
“Every year around 2,000 whales”
Thats not true. The number of whales killed varies for every year with a median of around 1200.
#9
“Aside from the fact that the number of North Atlantic long-finned pilot whales is unknown ”
Obviously the exact number is unknown, but estimates vary from 100000 to 300000 individuals.
#10
“and they are listed as ’strictly protected’ by the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats”
Pilot whales are not an endangered species.
#11
“and much of the flesh is left to rot and be dumped”
Thats just bullshit! Whale meat is considered to be a luxury food and every single ounch is used for human consumption.
#12
“it cannot be exported, as it is polluted with heavy metals and other toxins and therefore cannot meet EU heath standards for human food.”
And even if it did meet the EU healt standards it would still be illegal to export it according to EU law…
The worst thing about this article is not the magnitude of ignorance it contains. The worst thing is, that this ignorance is done on purpose and the non-critical mass of animal welfare activist will probably swallow everything raw. Ignorance is bliss.
I’m not sure whether Eivind really gets the dimension of what is happening in the Faroe Islands. His/her comment doesn’t provide any facts to justify what was described as a senseless slaughter – except that not 2000 whales are being killed but ‘only’ 1200 (how does that make it better?) and that the hooks used to grab the animals hack deep into their flesh the first time around (does that eliminate the fear and pain experienced by the animals?).
Eivind also doesn’t provide any facts that refute the senseless nature of the mass slaughter; the comment actually doesn’t even question this qualification. All that’s being said is that the original article contains lots of lies, ‘bullshit’, is emotive and based on ignorance. That to me that sounds like an emotive and defensive reaction with no sound ethical basis to justify the slaughter of these harmless, innocent animals. And I’d say the images of the original post speak for themselves – as powerful counter argument to that kind of emotional drivel.
I wonder what Eivind would say if a bunch of warriors descend upon the Faroe Islands, massacre the population there and then say: ah well, it’s only a minute percentage of the world population. My guess is that even one murder in Eivind’s family would cause rage in him/her. What right then do humans have to simply slaughter defenseless animals, especially if they don’t pose any threat to them and human survival doesn’t depend on the meat of those creatures?
My feeling is that Eivind is either part of the Faroe community and/or belongs to a group of people who believe in the superiority of the human species; that belief itself is not based on any facts but simply on the feeling of power over a defenseless other as well as such cultural roots like the notion of “man’s dominion of nature”. Given that scientifically we only begin to understand that animals too for example have feelings and what we call ‘intelligence’, and that we simply haven’t got a clue of what’s going on in the worlds of creatures other than our own species (and even here we are struggling), such beliefs are based on plain ignorance and demonstrate a cold-heartedness that unfortunately so often shows many other expressions in what we like to call a civilised world.
Interesting how you immidiatly spot my lack of facts to support my claims, but when it comes to the article you fail to realise, that it too dosn’t have any facts to support the claims it makes…
First of all my reply wasn’t an effort to try to justify anything. It was just a reaction to those glaring errors in this article. These errors tend to flourish among animal right activist (ara) to such a degree, that one cannot help wondering that this is done on purpose. The raison d’être is obvious, because if ARAs are able to portray the killing of these whales as savagely as possible, their cause will gain adherents and the more adherents the easier it is to put pressure on everyone with a say in these matters.
Whether or not you think humans should be allowed to kill whales you are still not allowed to conjure your own facts. I fail to realise why ARAs are so eager to write such nonsense. What is the motivation for portraying oneself as an ignorant?
However your feelings regarding myself are correct. I am from the Faroe Islands and thats the reason why I know for a fact, that this article is pure bullshit. Whether or not humans are superior to other animals is an open question. I dont think human superiority comes into sight by killing whales as well as I dont think whales superiority over octopusses comes into sight by them killing those highly developed cephalopods. To kill another animal for food is the way of nature. To kill some plants for food is also a way of nature. To say, that one way is superior to the other has no justification what so ever.
Your remark regarding the slaughter of faroese people is just plain stupid in my worldview. I see a distinct difference between humans and other animals, and however hard you might try I’ll still not be able to blur that distinction. Of course I would be outraged if someone killed my family, but you see… I dont have the same emotional bond towards other animals as I do towards my family. I realise that other people have a different view regarding these matters but that still dosn’t give them the right to claim “WE are right and you are dead WRONG”. Thats the way of religious fundamentalist and when I come to think of it, ARAs resemble religious fundamentalist to a large degree…
Have Australians Stopped Killing Whales? http://is.gd/mgIT What do you think?
Please complete our poll on Whaling, too.
Thanks Lesley
We have some simlar incidents regarding the hunting of whales and other sea mammals in our 3rd world country but I never saw any slaughter in the magnitude seen here… Is your Town starving and do people have to scrounge for food to make a meal? Sometimes you could sometimes look the other way when the killing of such gentle creatures are done in the course of nature.. which is survival.. but that is not so here… tradition like you stated is pure bullshit!… so they used to stone people for crimes should we still do the same coz it was tradition? Im no activist of anything but your defenition about what your doing as right… man you sure are twisted in the head… all those doing the killings are barbarians.. well you are descended from them so maybe you havent changed much.. and they say we are the wild people of asia sheesh… even the town that would hunt whales in our country have changed their ways and make a buck by taking people on tours to compensate their loss of a source of FOOD and not tradition… Soyes are DEAD RIGHT YOU ARE BARBARIANS of the so called modern world…
I’ve been extremely glum since I saw those terrifying pictures. I’m wondering if no animal-related groups ( like Sea Shepherd ) launch any campaign to protest against those barbaric Faroese’s atrocity ? Don’t use ” tradition ” as an excuse , otherwise , the cannibal practice shouldn’t have been forbidden cuz that used to be a ” tradition ” in some uncivilized tribes. This is the 21th century , a century of highly spiritual realization and awareness . Any form of distress or terror that humans afflict on the other species should be abandoned .
Please sign the petiton to press the Faroese home government to outlaw such massacre.
http://gopetition.com/petitions/denmark-end-whale-dolphin-salughter.html
I support the Faroe Islanders’ right to slaughter whales humanely and sustainably, for sustenance.
… as opposed to the right of urban-dwelling carnivores to sprout nonsense on blogs after feeding themselves with meat that was farmed unsustainably, cruelly, and for profit.
Unbelieveable! I feel like I just saw pictures from a Hollywood horror movie. I may be an “urban dwelling carnivore” but I do support humane free range livestock and humanely treated animals as a part of the food chain and very little of it at that.
But really… I put this in the same category as bullfighting and rodeos. C’mon people. Is it just me ? are the folks in support of the Faroe Islanders “right to slaughter” for real?
I’m speechless.
I’m signing the petition.