In the Faroe Islands, an autonomous Danish territory, people killed more than 1400 dolphins in a dolphin hunt. This practice of dolphin hunting provoked criticism on Tuesday.
It is likely to be the single largest capture in the northern archipelago; around 1,400 white-sided dolphins were slaughtered in a single day.
“There is no doubt that the Faroe whale hunts are a dramatic sight to people unfamiliar to the hunts and slaughter of mammals,” a government spokesman told AFP.
According to the official, such hunts are apparently well-organized and regulated.
According to the representative, the North Atlantic islands have a population of 50,000 people. They often kill pilot whales rather than dolphins.
Meanwhile, Hallur av Ran, a local television journalist, says, “There are typically a few of them in the ‘grind’. But we don’t often murder such a significant number.”
The hunters try to surround the whales with a wide semi-circle of fishing boats. Further pushing them to drive into a cove where they are beached and butchered. It is a process famous as “grindadrap” on the islands.
“It looks quite extreme and it took some time to kill them all; while it’s usually pretty quick,” av Rana said.
Photographs of the bloodied bodies of over 1400 Dolphins killed in the Faroe Islands appeared on social media. Hence, outrage stirred. 53% of the population of the islands opposes the “grind”. But there are no plans to end the practice, according to av Ran. Authorities claim that it is a sustainable hunting method.
The practice has been disgraced as barbarous by the Sea Shepherd organization, which campaigns against whale and dolphin hunting. It’s not a major concern for the island nation. It has an estimated 100,000 pilot whales in its waters and killed roughly 600 last year.
