Arthur Greene
The slaughter of almost 1,500 dolphins as part of a traditional hunt in the Faroe Islands in Europe has drawn widespread anger.
The tradition, in which a pod of white-sided dolphins is driven into shallow waters in the North Atlantic territory and massacred with knives and harpoons, has sparked outrage for years.
However, this month’s hunt has even upset those who support the tradition, after a record number of dolphins were killed.
Sunday’s hunt was “the largest single killing of dolphins or pilot whales in the islands’ history,” claimed the Sea Shepherd group, which has campaigned against the tradition, called “Grind”, for years.
Some reports have speculated that it was the largest single-day hunt of dolphins in history, anywhere in the world.
“Normally meat from a grindadrap is shared among the participants and any remainder among the locals in the district where the hunt took place,” the conservation group told the Washington Post.
However, the number of dolphins killed is usually less than 600.
“There is more dolphin meat from this hunt than anyone wants to take, so the dolphins are being offered to other districts in the hopes of not having to dump it.”
The chairman of the Faroese Whalers Association, Olavur Sjurdarberg, who supports the tradition, told the BBC that the hunters did not realise how many dolphins were being killed.
“It was a big mistake,” said Sjurdarberg, who did not participate in the hunt. “When the pod was found, they estimated it to be only 200 dolphins.”
After being driven into shallow waters by hunters on speedboats, hundreds of the mammals were left writhing for hours, unable to breath, before they were slaughtered.
The tradition is defended by locals who view dolphin meat as an important part of their food and cultural history, and was even eaten by the very first settlers on the island.
The scale of this year’s hunt, however, has upset many of the locals. The 1,428 dolphins – each weighing 100 kilograms – will provide far too much meat for the Faroes’ population of 50,000 to consume.
Image source: @seashepherd
