Ocean near the Faroe Islands turned red from the blood of dead whales

Snapshots of whale hunting on the Faroe Islands 300 kilometers north of Scotland caused a storm of anger among conservationists and animals. The photographs show how dozens of whales purposefully plant in the bay and kill, and their blood stains the ocean water in red.

Photo: YouTube / RT video frame

According to the Faroe Islands government, the hunt took place in Sandavagur Bay on the western island of Vágar on July 30 and was carried out for pilot whales, a cetacean from the dolphin family, writes CNN. Every summer there are several legal hunts on the archipelago, and this one was one of them. The hunt was documented by Alastair Ward, who came here to celebrate his graduation from the University of Cambridge.

In response to tweets, the British Blue Planet Society condemned the killings, describing the Faroe Islands as an “archaic country” that would be worth “joining the 21st century.”

“These people have no respect, no empathy, no need,” the group wrote. “It’s entertainment for them.”

In a statement to CNN on Friday, the government of the Faroes called whaling "a natural part of the life of the Faroe Islands" and denied that the killings were ritual or entertaining.

“The meat and fat of the pilot whale has been – and continues to be – an important part of the national diet in the Faroe Islands for many years. The catches are distributed, as a rule, without monetary compensation, between hunting participants and the local community. Each whale provides communities with several hundred kilograms of meat and fat that would otherwise have to be imported from overseas.”

Photo: YouTube / RT video frame

According to the rules of the Faroe Islands, whales need to be killed as quickly as possible and with minimal suffering, and those who commit murder must complete a whaling course and obtain a license.

Hundreds of whales die each year off the coast of the islands, which belong to Denmark, but are autonomous and are not bound by the laws of Denmark or the European Union. According to state statistics, about 50 000 people live on the islands.

Hunting off the coast of the islands has been conducted for centuries and is regulated by the Faroese government and international bodies, including the North Atlantic Commission on Marine Mammals. According to the 2012 study of the year, hunting does not threaten the grind population.

According to estimates by NAMMC and the American Cetacean Society, about 1 million grind exists around the world, and about 100 000 of them live near the Faroe Islands. The global ban on commercial whaling has been in effect since the 1980s, but does not affect this hunt, since most of the meat is shared within the community and not sold. The EU ban on whaling also does not matter: the Faroe Islands are not part of the union.

Although hunting is legal, European and world organizations are critical of this phenomenon. Against the opposition are the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the Humane Society International and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

PETA describes the hunt as “mass extermination” and claims that these “very intelligent creatures feel pain and fear in the same way as we do.” The Faroe government denies that animals suffer, pointing to today's more humane methods of killing them.

According to official information from the government of the islands, the traditional sharp whaling spear, a pointed hook and a knife were replaced with a rounded hook “that does not damage the whales” and a spear used to destroy the whale’s spinal cord, ensuring that “the whales lose consciousness and die in a few seconds. "

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