The massacre of over 500 dolphins.

Local authorities in the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory of Denmark, said on June 15 that more than 500 dolphins had been killed since May.

Dolphin hunters in Leynar, Faroe Islands, on June 14. Photo: AFP/Sea Shepherd

According to "grindadrap," a Faroese tradition, hunters would surround pilot whales and dolphins with a fleet of fishing boats arranged in a wide semicircle, then herd them into shallow bays where they would become stranded. Fishermen on shore would then kill them with knives.

Every summer, images of these bloody hunts attract worldwide attention and outrage animal rights activists, AFP reported on June 15. They consider the activity extremely barbaric.

"Yesterday there were two grindadrap attacks, one with 266 whales and the other with 180, according to preliminary reports," a Faroese government spokesperson said. Including these two recent attacks, there have been a total of five grindadrap attacks this hunting season, claiming the lives of a large number of pilot whales (a type of dolphin).

The environmental NGO Sea Shepherd previously obstructed a hunting expedition in 2014 using its vessel. Sea Shepherd also criticized the Danish navy's authorization to prevent environmentalists from disrupting hunting expeditions.

However, the hunt remains widely supported in the Faroe Islands. Supporters point out that dolphins have provided a livelihood for local people for centuries. They argue that the media and foreign NGOs are not respecting local culture and traditions.

Each year, the Faroe Islands typically kill around 800 pilot whales for their blubber and meat. In 2022, authorities limited the number of Atlantic white-sided dolphins that could be killed annually to 500, following an unusually large slaughter of over 1,400 dolphins that sparked fierce protests, including from local residents. Neither pilot whales nor Atlantic white-sided dolphins are listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

Thu Thao (According to AFP )

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