The people who participate in this annual event (called “The Grind”) in the Faroe Islands, including the men and women who slaughter the dolphins, are mother fucking barbarians who cannot be allowed to do this again. In previous posts in previous years, I have avoided posting the videos of this event, because it’s extraordinarily disturbing to watch these assholes do what they do. But this year, I’m posting it, because I’m livid.
You are warned; the video is graphic, so if watching dolphins being slaughtered, including being sliced while alive and stuck helpless on the beach, then avoid this video. If you don’t want to watch the video or are hesitating, maybe the photo above will convince you not to. The red water along the immediate shore is dolphin blood mixing with the sea, next to the carcasses. If this photo offends you, stay away from the video.
Here’s a link to the blog of the Sea Shepherd, telling us about this event, including its history, purpose and the intense negative reactions resulting from this year’s event.
Excerpt from this story from EcoWatch:
The slaughter of a record 1,428 dolphins in the Faroe Islands is prompting outrage from environmental organizations and even local residents.
Sea Shepherd announced that the killings took place the night of Sunday, September 12 and amounted to the largest single hunt of whales or dolphins in Faroese history.
"For such a hunt to take place in 2021 in a very wealthy European island community just 230 miles from the UK with no need or use for such a vast quantity of contaminated meat is outrageous,"
The incident is part of a Faroe Islands tradition known as the Grind, in which marine mammals, particularly whales, are hunted, BBC News explained. Supporters say it is sustainable and an important part of the cultural heritage of the autonomous Danish territory. Opponents, on the other hand, argue that it is unnecessarily cruel to the animals hunted.
Sunday's hunt, however, was exceptional for several reasons. Faroese marine biologist Bjarni Mikkelsen agreed with Sea Shepherd that it was a record hunt. The previous record was set in 1940, when 1,200 animals were killed. In general, government figures say that an average of 600 pilot whales a year are caught, but the number of dolphins is usually much lower. It stood at 35 in 2020 and 10 in 2019.
By contrast, Sunday's hunt saw a pod of nearly 1,500 white-sided dolphins driven by motor boats and jet skis for several hours into Skálabotnur beach, where every one of them was killed, Sea Shepherd reported.
Locals told Sea Shepherd that the incident violated Grind laws in three ways:
It was not called by the properly authorized Grind foreman.
Several of the hunters involved did not have a license, which means they were not trained in how to properly kill the animals.
Several of the dolphins were run over by motorboats, leading to a slow and painful death.
Why am I posting this and using ugly obscene language? I’m angry. This thing called “The Grind” represents precisely the sort of outrageous behavior that has gotten us into this biodiversity and climate mess in the first place. Why have we allowed this to continue? Oh, because it’s a tradition, we’re told, and we have to tolerate local customs, we’re told, and we should get off our high urban, liberal horses, we’re told. No, not anymore. I’m tired of seeing photos and reading stories about coyote killing contests and piles of dead coyotes, dead wolves, dead elephants with their tusks cut off, dead rhinos missing their horns, dead baby grizzly bears, dead big cats who are dead because some rich fucking Texas oil man likes to go on safaris in his $10,000 safari costume with his laser beam focused hunting rifle, tired of dead whales being hauled to shore by fishermen and onto careless big ships because they were run over.
While we’re talking about dolphin slaughter, let’s go halfway around the globe from the Faroe Islands to Taiji, in Japan, where the annual Taiji dolphin slaughter started on September 1. While the number of dead animals isn’t as gruesome as the Faroe Island numbers, the event is the same: slaughter, but with the added joy of knowing some of the dolphins are not slaughtered but sold to zoos and roadside seaquariums to live out the rest of their lives in space that, to the dolphin, is the equivalent of a small bathtub or toilet bowl. Here’s the link to the website of Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project, which informs us about this event. (The event was the subject of the documentary, “The Cove.” The link is to the trailer.) Quote from the Dolphin Project website:
“The unnecessary and barbaric annual Taiji dolphin slaughter has begun once again. I woke up this morning to learn a pod of dolphins has already been driven into the killing Cove. So when does this end? How does it end? I’m of the opinion it will end when the good people of Japan rise up against it. And that’s starting to happen. Our work, and yours is about supporting that effort. You can help by participating in Dolphin Defender Month. Check it out. Choose your level of involvement and take action.” ~ Ric O’Barry, Founder/Director of Dolphin Project.
And an infographic:
