2 months agolila.johanesova
🚨 Yesterday, the Faroe Islands became the scene of a day we will never forget. At around 14:00 in Tórshavn, a grind was called and boats set out. Whalers spent more than an hour searching for and pursuing a pod of around 100 bottlenose dolphins. At 15:20, the hunt was called off after the species was identified. The last documented slaughter of bottlenose dolphins in the Faroe Islands was in 2022. But the day was far from over. Later, at around 19:00, two more grinds were called simultaneously in different locations. In Tórshavn, 402 pilot whales were driven in and killed. This number does not include fetuses, juveniles, or pregnant mothers. Four bottlenose dolphins swimming with the pod were also killed. A large crowd gathered to watch. As the number of whales overwhelmed the small group of whalers, the killing took an extended amount of time and the scene became chaotic. This made it the largest grind in Tórshavn in 147 years. Our crew witnessed numerous whales being killed without the spinal lance, the mandatory tool meant to paralyse the whale before it is bled out with knives. Pilot whales were crushed against rocks, driven over, and cut by boat propellers. The whales’ cries filled the bay, drowned out by the roaring boats. One whaler admitted to one of our volunteers on the ground that there were not enough spinal lances, and that many pilot whales were killed with knives only. As the slaughter spiralled into chaos, local papers sarcastically described the scene as “good news for environmentalists,” because everyone there knew what it meant: the whalers had lost control, and the cruelty they tried to hide had become impossible to deny. At the same time, 168 white-sided dolphins were slaughtered on a beach in Skalabotnur. Our crew on the ground reported another messy kill, with dolphins fighting desperately for their lives. By then, around 574 pilot whales and white-sided dolphins had already been killed, not including fetuses, juveniles, or pregnant mothers.
More posts
