Stop the Faroe Islands Pilot Whale Massacre!

  • by: Haley Knudson
  • recipient: Everybody who loves and cares about the oceans and it's habitants

Every year in the Faroe Islands, anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 long-finned pilot whales are brutally slaughtered for tradition and culture. Northern bottlenose whales, Atlantic white-beaked dolphins, harbor porpoises, and Atlantic white-sided dolphins are occasionally caught as well.This cruel and deadly tradition is known as the Grindadrap. The whales are beaten in the blowhole with a gaff hook, dragged into shallow water while they can't breath, and are then cut across the neck with a whaling knife called a grindakniver. The slice usually cuts the spinal cord and when it does, the whale dies within seconds. The whale could also suffer for long minutes. Men laugh and curse as they do this bloody work. 
When the slaughter takes place, the entire town comes to watch. Children get a day off of school to view the tradition with everybody else. Even small children will stand there and smile, and many others will stand in the bloody water without emotion. Children are taught how to do the killing.
The slaughter in Taiji is most likely going to end this year. The slaughter in the Faroe Islands is not getting much attention. It needs attention.

Every year in the Faroe Islands, anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 long-finned pilot whales are brutally slaughtered for tradition and culture. Northern bottlenose whales, Atlantic white-beaked dolphins, harbor porpoises, and Atlantic white-sided dolphins are occasionally caught as well.This cruel and deadly tradition is known as the Grindadrap. The whales are beaten in the blowhole with a gaff hook, dragged into shallow water while they can't breath, and are then cut across the neck with a whaling knife called a grindakniver. The slice usually cuts the spinal cord and when it does, the whale dies within seconds. The whale could also suffer for long minutes. Men laugh and curse as they do this bloody work. 
When the slaughter takes place, the entire town comes to watch. Children get a day off of school to view the tradition with everybody else. Even small children will stand there and smile, and many others will stand in the bloody water without emotion. Children are taught how to do the killing.
The slaughter in Taiji is most likely going to end this year. The slaughter in the Faroe Islands is not getting much attention. It needs attention, and you can help.

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