The pictures show dozens of whales being herded into a bay where they are killed, the sea turning red with their blood.
The hunt took place in the bay of Sandavágur on the western island of Vágar on July 30 and involved pilot whales, according to the government of the Faroe Islands. It was one of several legal hunts that take place every summer in the archipelago. It was documented by Alastair Ward, who said he was visiting to celebrate his graduation from the University of Cambridge in the UK.
In a statement to CNN on Friday, the Faroese government described whaling as a “natural part of Faroese life” and rejected accusations that the killings were ritualistic or frivolous.
“The meat and blubber of pilot whales have long been — and continue to be — a valued part of the national diet in the Faroe Islands,” the statement said. “Catches are shared largely without the exchange of money among the participants in a whale drive and the local community. Each whale provides the communities with several hundred kilos of meat and blubber — meat that otherwise had to be imported from abroad.”
A global ban on commercial whaling has been in effect since the 1980s but has no effect on these hunts, since most of the meat is shared around the community rather than sold. An EU ban on whaling also carries no weight, since the Faroe Islands are not part of the bloc.
Although the hunts are legal, European and global organizations have criticized them, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Humane Society International and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.
The Faroese government denies that the animals suffer extensively, pointing to today’s more humane methods of corralling the animals into the bay and killing them.
Source : Nbcnewyork