More than 500 animals have already been killed off the Faroe Islands in the globally controversial whale hunt this season. According to initial estimates, 266 and 180 pilot whales were killed in the two most recent traditional drive hunts – so-called “grindadráp” – the day before, the spokesman for the island government said on Thursday of the AFP news agency. This means that five “Grindadráp” have already been held since the beginning of the year.
The hunts, during which the pilot whales are first herded into bays and then killed with knives by fishermen standing waist-deep in the water, are a repulsive sight for outsiders and regularly meet with harsh criticism from people around the world and animal rights activists. For their part, residents of the islands belonging to Denmark accuse the critics of disregarding their centuries-old culture, in which fishing plays a central role.
Around 800 pilot whales are killed every year during the traditional drive hunts. But again and again dolphins fall victim to this hunting practice. A veritable massacre of white-sided dolphins in 2021, in which 1,423 marine mammals were killed within one day, caused outrage even among the locals. As a result, the authorities decided the following year to limit the number of dolphins allowed to be hunted to 500.
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