Whales and Dolphins Massacred in Their Hundreds in Annual Event

The sea turns red with blood as the annual whaling season commences in the Faroe Islands, as part of its first slaughter since lockdown began.

Credit: Sea Shepherd

252 whales and 35 white-sided dolphins have been slaughtered in the Faroe Islands, as part of the archipelago’s annual whaling season.

The butchering is part of the ‘Grindadrap’ - translated as ‘the murder of whales’ - where fishermen gather to drive entire pods of whales and dolphins to the beaches, where they are beaten and killed with clubs, knives and spears.

In graphic footage, the scale and violence of the slaughter is visibly clear, as the sea turns blood red. 

The event continues to draw international condemnation each year. 

Volunteers from the animal protection group Sea Shepherd have been banned from entering Faroese waters, but they continue to document the slaughter from the beaches.  

“On average, 1,500 dolphins are massacred every year in the Faroe Islands, which invoke an ancestral tradition to justify this barbaric practice”, says Captain Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd.

“Pressure must be brought to bear wherever and whenever we can to stop this on-going massacre of entire families of innocent, intelligent, self-aware, socially complex, sentient beings”, adds Watson. 

While the Faroese are only now resuming the grindadrap, some countries have continued to hunt throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. 

At the start of lockdown, Norway set a kill quota of 18,000 seals and 1,200 whales, and 200 whales were to be killed in Japan. 

However, there are signs of change. Iceland has announced that no whale hunting will take place for the second year in a row, as the industry continues to suffer from waning public support and declining profits.

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