I received an e-mail with photos of an awful whale slaughter happening in the Faroe Islands in Denmark. The pictures are compelling and prompted me to do a little research. The Faroese call these hunts grindadráp and insist they are a misunderstood part of their culture and economy. Others call them unnecessary slaughters. I call it perplexing and horrible.

Here’s Jhobie Zon Jhobe’s post about the slaughter. And if you’re not sure you believe all this, here’s a post at Hoax Slayer about the whale killings (I couldn’t find anything either way on Snopes). 

Jhobie Zon Jhobe includes a bit of correspondence with the WWF (not the Hulk Hogan kind)…

I then enquired with WWF, who suggested I write into WSPA and provided me with an email address for me to forward the e-mail onto. And I got this reply (I’ve ‘x’ the respondent name for privacy purpose):

Dear Friend,

Thank you so much for your email. We share your concern for the welfare of whales and dolphins in the Faroe Islands. 

Some 28,000 great whales have been killed since the International Whaling Commission (IWC) adopted a worldwide ban on commercial whaling that took effect in 1986. The Faroe Islands however continue to kill pilot whales and other species as these islands are not covered by the Convention. For this reason it has been difficult to enforce the end of this cruel ritual. 

WSPA has been campaigning against the whale and dolphin hunt in the Faroe Islands since 1984. In 1992 WSPA, the Environmental Investigation Agency and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society formed the Pilot Whale Campaign and started targeting importers and retailers of Faroese products in Britain (and later on in Germany) in an attempt to stop the import of Faroese products. Unfortunately the campaign had little success however WSPA continues to lobby against whaling globally through
the Whalewatch coalition. [Read more here...]

You can read a more “neutral” account in the Wikipedia article about Whaling in the Faroe Islands »

So, what the hell, man? What do you make of all this? Comments?