Footage shows a beach full of killed dolphins after a massive hunt.
- About 1,500 dolphins were killed on the beach in the Faroe Islands during a traditional hunt.
- The Sea Shepherd organization said it had 1,428 white-sided dolphins killed during the hunt.
- The group accused the hunters of prolonging the suffering of the dolphins by leaving them bleeding on the beach.
A group of animal rights activists shared shocking footage of a beach full of bloody dolphins, which they said were killed as part of a traditional hunting event called Grind in the Faroe Islands.
The Sea Shepherd, a British animal welfare organization, has published graphic Photo hunting on September 12. Group documented dozens of dolphins, driven into shallow waters and killed by hunters, stabbed the dolphins to death as they writhed on the beach.
“Grind” (or “Grindadrab” in the Faroe Islands) is an hunting tradition what is hundreds of years old. It is held in the remote Faroe Islands, a Danish territory halfway between Scotland and Iceland. An official mass hunt takes place every summer and includes the hand-hunting of marine mammals such as pilot whales and dolphins. usually with a knife or spinal lance… Their meat harvested for human consumption…
The footage tweeted by other animal protection groups shows that the water around the beach turns red after the hunt.
– Blue Planet Society (@Seasaver) September 13, 2021
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—Desdemona Despair (@DesdemonaDes) September 15, 2021
V Facebook post on September 13th, The Sea Shepherd accused an unnamed local “grindforemann” (or hunting leader) of driving a flock of 1,428 dolphins ashore despite knowing there weren’t enough hunters to deal with so many dolphins, resulting in unnecessary human casualties, in addition to hunting. the usual catch.
“Such a person cannot be held responsible again to decide the fate of migratory whales and dolphins. The only thing that can be done is to deprive him of his powers and prohibit all future hunting for white-sided dolphins, ”the group wrote. …
Faroe Islands leaders admit ‘big mistake’
The scale of the Sunday hunt sparked protests from activists and marine biologists. BBC…
The BBC spoke with Bjarni Mikkelsen, a marine biologist from the Faroe Islands, who said it was the highest dolphin killing rate ever recorded in the Faroe Islands. Mikkelsen told the BBC that the previous record was 1,200 dolphins killed in 1940.
In accordance with statistics from Sea Shepherd, 463 long fin whales and 35 Atlantic white-sided dolphins were killed in 2020.
The chairman of the Faroe Islands Whaling Association, Olavur Sürdarberg, admitted to the BBC that hunting this year was “excessive”.
Sürdarberg, who told the BBC that he himself did not participate in the hunt, said there was a “big mistake” when the hunters underestimated the size of the dolphin herd to 200. He explained that they only realized how many dolphins there were when the killing began.
“Someone should have known better. Most people are shocked by what happened, ”Sürdarberg told the BBC. Sürdarberg did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
Heri Petersen, chair of the local hunting association Grind, told the local news agency Information too many dolphins were driven into the bay, and there were not enough hunters to send them.
“I’m shocked by what happened,” Petersen told In.fo. “The dolphins lay writhing on the beach for too long before they were killed.”
The Faroe Islands’ Ministry of Fisheries did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
