On 29 May, 145 pilot whales and seven white-sided dolphins were killed in Torshavn bay in the Faroe Islands. But this was no one-off incident. Every summer, the waters that surround the Faroe Islands turn a horrific, deep red as the blood of hundreds of whales and dolphins spills into the sea. This gruesome bloodbath is just an ordinary, annual tradition of the culling of whales, referred to as Grindadráp by the local community.
Every year about 800 whales are killed to provide meat and blubber that is part of the natural diet of the people of the Faroe Islands. Each whale provides communities with several hundred kilos of meat, that would otherwise have to be imported. It is a communal activity, and catches are shared by the locals largely without the exchange of cash.
Páll Nolsøe, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, told Metro UK , "Whaling is a natural part of Faroese life. It has long since been internationally recognised that pilot whale catches in the Faroe Islands are fully sustainable."
How are the whales killed?
When pods of whales venture close to the bay, boats enclose the whales and herd them towards land to be beached and killed. When the animals are close enough, a hook is inserted into their blowhole to haul them further up the shore. A spinal lance is then used to stab the neck and sever its spinal cord, cutting the blood supply to its brain. The whale loses consciousness and dies within a few seconds. An entire of pod of whales is killed in less than 10 minutes. Hundreds of whales are butchered in plain sight in shallow bays, with the entire community pitching in to help.
The history of the annual bloodbath
The inhabitants of the Faroe Islands have been whaling for centuries and the tradition goes back as far as 1584. The use of locally available wildlife is a natural part of the way of life in the Faroe Islands and pilot whales have been a staple part of the Faroese diet since the age of the Vikings.
Each whale catch is recorded and regulated by authorities. Since 1584, there have been almost 2,000 whale catches in the Faroes. But authorities in the archipelago consistently maintain that these events are not cruel and are carried out in accordance with international law. According to the official Whaling website , "Scientists estimate that the pilot whale population in the eastern North Atlantic is about 778,000 whales, with approximately 100,000 around the Faroe Islands. The Faroese hunt on average 800 pilot whales annually."
The original version of this story identified Faroe Islands as part of Denmark. However, Faroe Islands have been a self-governing nation under the external sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark. The copy has been updated to reflect this.