More than 700 whales and dolphins have been slaughtered off the coast of the Faroe Islands, with the sea turning red with blood during the annual hunt. The cull, known locally as ‘the grind’, involved driving hundreds of animals towards the shoreline and killing them with hooks and long knives.
Graphic Scenes of Slaughter
In harrowing scenes on 27 May, fishermen waded through vibrant red water while dozens of carcasses lay dead on beaches, just 200 miles from Scotland in the Atlantic. Children watched on as bodies, slashed open with knives and exposing internal organs, were piled high on the shoreline to be hauled off, strung up and mutilated.
Sea Shepherd tallied 402 pilot whales and four bottlenose dolphins killed in Tórshavn, 168 white-sided dolphins killed in Skalabotnur, and 132 white-sided dolphins killed in Hvalvik, for a total of 706.
Welfare Concerns and Political Pressure
Welfare groups reacted with horror after participants ran out of legally mandated spinal lances, specialised tools designed to sever the spinal cord quickly and reduce suffering. Valentina Crast, campaign director for the Faroe Islands at Sea Shepherd, described “chaotic scenes of extreme animal cruelty” and urged European governments to call for a ban.
More than 70 British MPs have called on the UK government to push to ban the hunts. Elisa Allen, vice president of programmes at PETA, said: “Every year, to the horror of the rest of the world, hundreds of whales and dolphins are chased into bays on the Faroe Islands and massacred in barbaric ways. The animals cry out in pain. Whole families are slaughtered, and some animals are seen swimming around in their family members’ blood for hours.”
Local Opposition and Legal Protections
The grindadráp hunts have taken place each summer for centuries in the Danish territory. Supporters say whaling is a sustainable way of gathering food and an important part of local identity. The Faroese parliament this year voted unanimously to ensure local hunting regulations override the territory’s animal welfare laws, protecting whalers from prosecution for welfare violations.
Two observing Sea Shepherd crew members were arrested this year after being reported to police by whalers who claimed they had interfered into hunts - allegations denied by Sea Shepherd.
