In an orge of bloodletting a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins where herded into a shallow fiord in the Faroe Islands and massacred on the beach, turning the sea water red with their blood. This hunt known as the Grindadrap has gone on for hundreds of years in the remote Faroe Islands, a territory administred by Denmark. Natives defend the practice saying the hunt is a sustainable way of obtaining food and is part of their cultural identity. The number of dolphins killed in the slaughter on Sunday was unusually high exceeding the 1200 killed in 1940. Even the chairman of the Faroese Whalers Association, Olavur Sjurdarberg, called the excessive number of animals killed "a big mistake". "When the pod was found, they estimated it to be only 200 dolphins", he explained. "Somebody should have known better,"He added,. "Most people are in shock about what happened."
These hunts are regulated. Participants must first obtain a training certificate showing they know how to dispatch a large sea mammal. Killing involves severing the spinal cord with a lance. They are non-commercial and organized at the community level, often spontaneously when a pod is spotted. Meat is distributed to community members. A local MP visited the Faroes after the slaughter and told reporters that the hunts are legal, but not popular. He said, "People were furious," but defended the hunt as humane. Sea Shepard, an activist group dedicated to defending whales, disagrees saying,"the killing of the dolphins and pilot whales is rarely as quick as Faroese government makes out." Grindadrap hunts can turn into drawn-out, often disorganized massacres. The pilot whales and dolphins can be killed over long periods in front of their relatives while beached on sand, rocks or just struggling in shallow water." Surveys show that just over 50% of Faroe residents oppose dolphin hunting, but support the hunting of pilot whales. About 600 pilot whales are killed every year.
