Barbaric Slaughter of 100 Bottlenose Dolphins on Faroe Islands Turns the Bay Bloody Red

Residents at Skálafjörður, Faroe Islands herded nearly 100 bottlenose dolphins into a bay for several hours before their men massacred the sea mammals using hooks, knives, and spears that turned the waters bloody red.

The tradition has yet again sparked international outrage even as the region has been in the spotlight for its annual whaling hunt that is condemned by animal rights groups and described as barbaric, Daily Star reported. However, the residents argue that it is an important part of their local tradition.

(Photo : STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images)
A man walks among carcasses of Bottlenose dolphin on a beach in Zanzibar, 28 April 2006 after several hundred dolphins washed ashore. Witnesses said that at least 300 carcasses were littered across four beaches of the semi-autonomous Zanzibar archipelago on Friday morning, some 50 kilometres from the Indian ocean island's capital.

Whale Hunters Used Spears for the First Time

The whaling sheriff of the island said that it was the first time that dolphin hunters used a spear to kill dolphins at a faster rate to reduce their suffering. However, experts from uk.whales.org said that was no evidence killing lance makes dolphin hunting more humane.

Whales and Dolphin Conservation policy manager Astrid Fuchs said that bottlenose dolphins are one of the boost loved and well-studied dolphin species and killing 100 hundred of them only indicate that it is a political sign that these hunters care for neither the locals nor the international community's opinion about their dolphin hunting tradition.

Fuchs added that they are hoping the United Kingdom and the European Union will respond to this matter with the necessary diplomatic and economic pressure to stop this practice.

WDC also claims that most Faroese prefer that the hunts will end since these species' meat is not in high demand and does not fall under traditional pilot whale grinds. The practice of whale and dolphin hunting in the Faroe Islands has been called Grindadrap or grinds in short.

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Hunters Pledged to Limit Dolphin Hunting

In 2021, horrific images of the biggest recorded dolphin massacre in the Faroe Islands received widespread criticism after hunters killed 1,423 white-sided dolphins. The corpses of the dolphins lined up the beaches of the same bay where almost a hundred dead dolphins lie this year.

According to BBC News, last year's hunting prompted a review in February in response to the international outcry from animal activists that have long criticized the hunt and described the slaughter as unnecessary and cruel.

But Faroe Islanders argue that the practice of killing dolphins has fed them for centuries. The grind is a tradition they have practiced for hundreds of years in the remote islands of the Danish autonomous territory in the North Atlantic.

However, last year's hunt was too much as even locals were shocked and it drew criticisms from groups involved in the practice. A petition of 1.3 million signatures submitted to the Faroese government calls to ban the tradition. As a response, they order the limit on the annual catch of white-sided dolphins to 5000 for the next two years.

But some groups pointed out that this move only responded to the dolphin hunt and not the entire grind tradition of the Faroe Islands. The government argues that the hunt serves as an important supplement to livelihoods for locals.