My impulsive rant about the dolphin killing tradition on Faroe Islands
Hi there my Hivean friends and followers!
I hate to write these environmental rants as I usually try to focus on positive and inspiring things happening in nature but this is something I just cannot ignore. The incident that made me write this was so shocking and disgusting that it´s in the headlines all over the world these days so the chances are you have already seen it but if not, let me tell you what just happened on the Faroe Islands.
The Faroe Islands, a remote Danish archipelago in the North Atlantic that is home to just some 50,000 people, is actually also home to one of the most brutal traditions that humans still kept. Every year, there is this whale hunting day when crowds of the locals gather in a small bay to watch a massacre of hundreds of whales, dolphins and other marine mammals who are forced into the shallows of the bay where they are then slaughtered with knives. What a beautiful and funny way to spend some family time together, right? Take your kids and go watch crying stressed dolphins being slaughtered...
Needless to say it´s absolutely beyond my comprehension how this "tradition" can be still observed anywhere on Earth, let alone a region that is a part of one of the most developed and modern countries in the world. But the latest "season" of this perverted "tradition" was even more appalling than the previous ones. Why? Because the organizers ended up having to kill a lot more dolphins than they originally wanted because of some "miscalculations". Consequently, almost 1,500 of white sided dolphins, forced into the shallows, crying in agony and absolute despair, were waiting to be killed for long hours because there was not even enough people on the shore to do so! The scene was so brutal and heartbreaking that even some of the "spectators" who came there to "enjoy" the "tradition" said it was too much for them. The whole bay turned red with the blood of the massacred dolphins and filled with their desperate cries. I just don´t get it how any sane human being could consider it anything but an absolute apocalyptic nightmare.
There are tons of photos and videos from this "event" all over the internet so you can find more if you want but it really breaks my heart to watch them so I am going to feature only one picture here in this post for illustration purposes.
Image source: BBC News
I can tell you I really hate writing posts like this one and I literally got sick while doing so but I think it´s important to spread the word. The more people know, the higher the chances things will change. Honestly, I don´t know why there are still so many traditions around the world that involves abuse and suffering of animals. We are so proud of all our achievements and progresses. Soon, people will be traveling to space for holidays and yet, at the same time, we still have these extremely retrograde traditions that look as if they were imported here from the dark medieval ages... And this one from the Faroe Islands is particularly hideous in my book because they kill dolphins. These amazing playful marine creatures with intelligence, sensitivity and emotions similar to those of humans. Except dolphins would never ever do anything like this to us. Quite the opposite, there have been many cases recorded where dolphins intentionally and altruistically helped people who were drowning or threatened by sharks. And that´s what we give them in return...
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OMG, I just couldn't read too much about it...this is indeed terrible awful 😔 Is there a petition or something that can be done...?
I am sure there will be petitions to sign or some other initiatives to ban these practises, especially after the last incident that really got a lot of coverage in the media...
damn that brutal screw these traditions and screw these people who kill hundreds of marine mammals I can't express my anger but can only say I'm very very angry after knowledge of this
I understand your feelings very well. Sorry to inform you about this thing but the more people know, the better...
Agree I watched some videos on YouTube and I just lear Japan China also hunt them
Yeah, there are more countries that still hunt whales and other marine mammals (which is horrible of course and I hope they will ban it soon) but I think the Faroe Islands is the only place where they even have this "festival" dedicated to it...
I think so as well
Hello dear friend @phortun, As a nature lover, I don't like to hear or read that kind of terrible news around the world. They can be celebrate their cultural events without killing them or hurting nature's properties. Exactly they are so cruel and I believe someday they will punish by the mother nature throgh disaters or other things...
Thanks for your feedback my friend. In fact, this "festival" is only about killing the dolphins and whales, there are no other cultural events behind it... Their only argument to defend this barbaric tradition is that they have been doing this for centuries. I don´t care how long they have been doing it, I only care about when it will finally gets banned...
Among my favourite lines is this one from "Whatever Works" (Woody Allen") where in the first minutes Larry David starring as a weirdo genius old geezer says:
"If only people were fundamentally decent"...
If only they were... So pathetic how we boast about all the progress of humanity, cutting edge technologies and everything and still, at the same, we act like the most primitive barbarians.
At the end of the day it seems that our evolution has mainly to do with our impressive technological achievements. As personalities we are more or less the same animals we always were hence we repeat the same mistakes in history's routine of rise and fall.
That's correct. Evolution takes hundreds of years to have complex beings like us adapt to new environments. We still have back-pains which is a heritage from more than 1 000 000 y ago when our ancestors would walk on four.
Impressive and true this fact about the back pain and also impressive that so many people are not aware about the routes of such a common problem.
That´s an interesting "fun" fact. I didn´t know about it...
Exactly...
This and massive military exercises should end. We have to start using our dominance and ingenuity wisely or we will destroy not only dolphins but all Earth.
True but I think we need to change much more than just stop doing military exercises to heal the damage we have already done...
I am afraid that we are already beyond the point of no return. Plus I don't see China stopping anytime soon. That country has food problems now, imagine when their old population* becomes no longer capable of producing. And even without them, there would still be huge fishing countries like Japan, Norway, etc. Maritime populations aren't coming back... That is unfortunate and also another reason why we shouldn't kill them for whatever this tradition is supposed to be.
*(birth control laws, communism, and urbanization all decrease people's willingness to have babies, China had all three and has two now).
No já naopak vidím trend klesající populace jako něco, co by mohlo přírodě hodně ulevit... Míň lidí znamená menší znečištění, míň plochy a zdrojů potřebných pro zemědělskou produkci atd...
Ano, ale i kdyby lidé z ničeho nic zmizeli v nějaké nové dimenzi, populace ryb by potřebovali strašně dlouho, než by dosáhli svých původních úrovní.
Nevím, jak dlouho, ale když má příroda možnost, tak regeneruje strašně rychle. Už jen kolik toho zvládla během této pandemie a to ani nemuseli lidi mizet v jiné dimenzi, stačilo, že seděli chvíli doma... Krásně to popisuje i můj oblíbenec David Attenborough třea v tomhle dokumentu.
Já jsem zase viděl družicové snímky znečištění. I UFOvé mohli vidět, že tu máme pandemii 😁
It is quite unfortunate that these animals are exposed to the cruel side of humans. I believe that government should find a way to at least save their lives and preserve them from going into extinction. These animals have a lot of economic importance to our society. They are necessary for instance in recycling and keeping the sea safe from unwanted debris. We can't leave without them indeed.
This has nothing to do whether the animals are endangered or not. There is simply no room for practise like this in the 21 century. In my opinion, any tradition that includes animal abuse should no longer be kept, no matter how old it is. We are not in the medieval era any more.
Thanks for your contribution.
I have exactly the same feeling: "I just don´t get it how any sane human being could consider it anything but an absolute apocalyptic nightmare."
I know Sofia... I believe this is beyond understanding not only for us, nature lovers, but even for normal people who usually don´t care much about environmental things...
I have seen it on news, but don't know why they did this. What did they win by killing a living being in the sea..
They say they eat the meat. But even if they do and no matter how much I doubt that the tiny population of the islands can eat thousands of dolphins and whales (they hunted a few hundreds of them too), this whole concept of the "killing festival" is totally disgusting and perverted...
Oh, Scandinavians... Aren't those the same who threaten 3rd world countries (Brazil) when environmental policies fail? Unbe-fucking-lievable. I did not know about this event.
What do you mean they threaten Brazil? I must have missed something here...
Sorry for taking so long, I was off to the ranch without internet. Some time ago, Norway's pension fund threatened to take investments out of our country (funny enough they invest in mining here, which is one of the main sectors who fucked up our environment).
Ah, thanks for the explanation. Sounds pretty pathetic indeed...
I just found out about this tradition problem, thanks for the information
Definitely cannot say "my pleasure" but you are welcome. Thanks for spreading the word.
This makes me wanna throw up, I can't believe that people actually do this. My parents will stop talking to me if I eat an egg and these guys are bathing in the blood of dolphins. Who does this in the name of culture/ tradition, it's so unnecesary. I aceept all kinds of cultures and religions but let me tell you this, This is NO culture, it is just a bunch of people who want to see the blood of these helpless beings just to feel superior once in a while. I hate this so much!
Thank you for checking out the post, I can see it actually was a new thing to a lot of my friends and followers here on Hive. Obviously, the media coverage was not as extensive as I thought... I hate to inform people about things like this but it´s important to raise awareness. Thanks for being respectful to nature man. Greetings to India.
Thank you for bringing this to my notice.
How disturbing is that they are so beautiful and smart why do that there are many other choices but it's all about the money and greed for some people.
Well, a lot of the damage to nature is because of the human greed, no doubts about it, but I am not sure if this is the case too. I don´t think they make any profit from this "tradition", might well just be the perverted "joy of killing"...
That makes it more sad joy of killing :(
🥺 What a terrible scene! Pray for them! I can't imagine what happens... Wish this "tradition" will gradually change in positive ways. In Vietnam, there are still some tradition related to the grand fishes but in better way. If a significant fish strands on the beach, fishermen will save them or they will bury them in case they can't live anymore. In some fishing villages, they even build a small temple for them to pray and wish all the best things.
To me, the tradition "mass killing animal" is unacceptable!
Thank you very much for your feedback, I am glad to know the approach of you guys in Vietnam is much different than this, even though that fishing is probably an important part of your culture and an industry sector in your region too. I know, however, that some Asian countries still practise shark finning, which is also horrible... There is still a lot we need to change before humans and animals will be able to live on this planet peacefully.
You're totally right! I hope so! Just one way that I have been practicing is less eating meat. I really hope "Less meat, more lives". Pray for world! 🙏
Thank you for your contribution, I have been doing the same (eating less meat). Every little step counts :)
It is disgusting to see dolphins being cruelly treated. I consider this a despicable and heinous crime. :((
Yeah, same here. Despicable indeed :(
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What the f*ck did I just read?! This is scandalous!!! I had no idea about this "tradition" or better said, stupidity of people. When in the earth killing animals is considered a tradition? This kind of people should be given to the wild animals, as tradition too!
I am sorry Gabriela, I knew this post will be hard to read for my fellow nature lovers... I actually know about this "tradition" and it always makes me super sad and angry whenever they hold another "season" of it as I keep hoping it will be banned for good. But it´s still there and this year was particuarly disgusting...
Holy shit. I don't know which dominates more between anger and feeling useless. I never wished bad to anyone but these people.... !@#$& !!!!! 🤬
You are so brave to write this post. Thank you so much. It is so cruel what they are doing. My heart is broken when I saw the image and when I read about they were crying in despair - it is too much I can't take any more.
But by sharing this to more people, hopefully we can make it stop one day.
Yeah, exactly, that was the point... Thanks for checking out the post, although it was a very tough read, I know. Appreciate it.