Nearly 1,500 white-sided dolphins were killed in Faroe Islands, an autonomous Danish territory on Sunday. Since then the criticism of the massacre has surfed huge which, says that it has been the single biggest hunt in the island ever.
The pod of dolphins was driven into the largest fjord in the Atlantic territory and boats herded them into shallow waters at Skalabotnur beach in Eysturoy, where they were killed with knives, reported BBC. The carcases were pulled ashore and distributed to locals for consumption.
For many Faroese people, the Grind is significant with people hunting- primarily whales which, is a tradition in the island.
Sjurdur Skaale, a Danish MP for the Faroe Islands said that killing white-,sided dolphins is “legal but it’s not popular”. He said that people were furious when he visited Skalabotnur beach to speak to locals, reported BBC. Still, he defended the hunt, which he said was humane if done in the right way.
While campaign groups have disputed arguing that the killing of the dolphins and pilot whales is rarely as quick as Faroese government.
According to The Guardian, the Sea Shepherd group which has been campaigning to stop the traditional Faroese “Grind” hunt has claimed Sunday’s hunt was “the largest single killing of dolphins or pilot whales in the islands’ history”.
Heri Peterson, who chairs the local Grind hunting association in the bay, said that far too many dolphins had been herded into the bay over too long a distance, with too few people waiting on the beach to kill them. He told the local In.fo news site that the dolphins lay on the beach writhing for far too long before they were killed.
The former chairman of the Faroese Grind Assosiation, Hans Jacob Hermansen told the local Kringvarp Foroyo broadcaster that he was shocked by the event and added, “Destroys all the work we have done to preserve the Grind”.
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