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Pilot Whales Brutally Slaughtered Annually in the Faroe Islands

by Stephanie Rogers · View Comments

Residents of the Faroe Islands, an autonomous province of Denmark, slaughter and eat pilot whales every year, as these photos graphically depict.  The Faroese are descendents of Vikings, and pilot whales have been a central part of their diet for more than 1,000 years.  They crowd these intelligent animals into a bay and kill them, cutting the dorsal area through to the spinal cord.   In the process, their main arteries get cut.  As you can see, the waters in the bay turn bright red from all the blood.

Ironically, this practice, called grindadráp, is diminishing the population of 5,000 islanders.  Many of them get sick and die from high mercury levels in the whales.  Mentally retarded children are reportedly being born at alarmingly high rates.

To be clear, the whales are not endangered and animal rights organizations have largely backed off due to the fact that this process is such an integral part of Faroese culture, and because the Faroese aren’t involved in commercial whaling.  That doesn’t make the pictures any easier to look at, though.

PBS has a video about the mercury problem and this culture’s deeply held beliefs called ‘The Faroe Islands – Message from the Sea’, viewable here.

Link [PBS] + [Wikipedia]

  • Helenread25

    I'm just left wondering why.
    If it's so well known that the whale meat contains such a high concentration of mercury, which leads to so many documented cases of disease, why doesn't the Faroese community shift towards farming
    other sources of meat like oysters or salmon in pens, or chickens and pigs?
    It doesn't make any sense to me to have farmland and not be able to adapt to another option.

  • Well we don't have any oysters or pigs, and less than 1000 chickens i think, and the Faroe Islands don't have much farm land, it's a little country, whit little plains, moustly mountain or hill, and we do sell millions of tons of fish every year, and whale meat is not our main source of food, we eat pilot meat once or twice a year. Plz do a little research before asking. Thanks:)

  • Kim

    After reading the article and the associated thread, I'm going to have to take a neutral stance on this one. I'm an omnivore, and I sure am glad that I don't have to slaughter my own meat--I think I'd be a vegetarian if I did. What I'm really curious about is how all of the whale parts are used and preserved after the slaughter. How much waste is there? And what do you do with the waste? Are you able to preserve the meat in a way to sustain the island until the next ritual killing?

  • A_rantg

    people also used to burn animals for god. is that less barbaric than killing whales? and the photos you see on this web are photoshoped. the sea is much more red here than in real life. and the whales only suffer a few seconds when se kill them. we cut the aorta. denmark kill more whales than there are people there. and they shoot them. and all the chicken you eat have suffered all theyre life. think about that. ps. whales cant be inteligent if they swim directly to the beach where they get killed.

  • Antonz

    I hope that the law of cause and effect will not aply to the childern of those who take part in this
    slaughter.
    we are in control, at least in control of our actions.
    I always wanted to visit that Island. not anymore !

  • Chris44448888

    Absolutely sickening, it makes one ashamed to be a member of the human race and wonder who the real animals are!!!

  • humans are animals.

  • this is disgusting, the UN should do something about this. this is one of the many reasons why our whales are becoming extinct.

  • The Faroe islands are not a part of the UN.

  • jmh211

    This is seriously deranged. I wonder if it is related to the high prenatal mercury exposure and associated neurologic impairment among Faroe Islander infants? Whatever the explaination, it has to stop. But how? Can any group this barbaric control their own behavior even with international pressure?

  • ohmygosh ... this is awful!!!!

  • helenread25

    Check out "The Cove" a documentary about an annual dolphin slaughter in Japan.
    Same problem with the mercury and mental retardation.
    It won approval at the Tokyo Film Fest, and school lunch programs stopped including dolphin meat.
    "The Cove" will be showing in Japanese theatres this July.
    Things are changing.
    Long held opinions are being reconsidered.

  • allisonhancock

    This is absolutely disgusting. This despicable way of killing the whales and dolphins causes immense suffering and pain.
    These people continue to hunt in their barbaric viking traditions. This way of killing is no longer acceptable to decent human beings in the 21st century. What is very disturbing to see is the little children of the Faroes Islanders watching this bloody slaughter in front of their eyes and thinking this is perfectly normal
    The danish government should be doing something about this terrible, sick, killing. I think people should boycot buying any goods whatsoever from Denmark or the Faroes, ie danish bacon, danish butter - Lurpack etc and any fish from the Faroes. Make them suffer
    hit them where it hurts, their pockets.

  • allisonhancock

    This is utterly disgusting. These people need educating, we are now in the 21st century and these barbaric, viking traditions are no longer acceptable to any decent human being today. This way of killing the animals causes huge suffering and immense pain, why do these people think it is god given their right to do this, what is also extremely disturbing is seeing the Faroes Islanders small children watching all of this barbaric killing, growing up to think this is perfectly normal. The Danish government should be doing something about this. I think everybody should boycott any Danish products - don't buy anything that comes from the Faroes or Denmark, make them suffer for a change

  • Constance

    how screwed up is that .
    would you like it if people were to sink a 6-inch blade into your flesh , cutting your spinal cord , then cuts your vital vessels ? Animals we've becomed.

  • Yes humans are animals, simple as that.

  • Yuka

    I or my whole family will NEVER visit The Faroe Islands for sightseeing.
    The land with a brutal tradition will not make us happy there.

  • So what?

  • martinhuyton

    These people are deranged. How can any sane person derive pleasure from such a barbaric act. The faroese people are descenants of the Vikings and to me it is quite evident that in the last 1000 years they have not evolved one iota. This needs to banned NOW. In response to the comment posted by a person under the name of Faroe Islands, "Every country has their own traditions, up here we kill whales, thats at least better than killing people" I disagree. The whales and dolphins that you slaughter are doing no harm to anything or anyone. I think that the hunting of cruel bastards like you faroese should be legalized. I will do my utmost to see you and your sick, inbred families put behind bars where you belong, that's a promise!

  • blcalfaf

    Look people,if u got a prob with anybody being a vegetarian,u need to mind your own crap cause animals deserve to be treated fairly.i dont understand why everybody kills innocent animals,you dis agree? thats just tough crap.seriously,have u seen that paul mccartney vid if slaughter houses had glass walls? you people who hurt animals dont deserve to be on earth.

  • seriously guys.

    Being faroese and reading this really shows me how information can be skewed.

    first. there are 45.000 people living on the faroes. we don't have more mentally challenged kinds than anywhere else - in fact we have one of the lowest childmortality rates and one of the higest average living age in the world. the red bays are due to blood dying the water. seriously....how much blood do you think a pilot whale has?

  • The Cove Documentary Rox

    They don't eat all that meat. They do it to prove they are manly. So manly they are that they trap the dolphins into an area and attack and knife them savagely hacking away at the dolphins neck and spinal column while shouting " Me Man - Kill Defensless Dolphin and Claim it For Food (said with a bone in his nose while wear a loin cloth and pounding chest). Look at Me, Me Manly Don't You Think!!!"

  • You don't have a single fact right.

  • A Hey

    These people are dying and having mentally challenged children because they eat these whales.....I guess they are getting what they deserve. With any luck all 5,000 of these islanders will all be mercury poisoned and this ridiculous, gruesome "tradition" willl come to an end. It is disgusting, as our Canadian seal hunt is disgusting! How do we call ourselves humane people when we do these things!

  • Benny

    We realy need to do something about this. Since finding out about it its been on my mind alot. I've engaged Faroese people on the net in debate about it & they seem so stuck in there ways.

  • Ári

    And you are stuck in yours

  • blcalfaf

    hey,send this vid to your friends, u can find it online. its called if slaughterhouses had glass walls,we would all be vegetarians.it maybe a little too strong though.

  • Ári

    you have a point there. every one thinks we are barbaric, just because they don't know how the cows, pigs and sheep's they eat are killed. Maybe they think that the meat just magically appear in the store:p

  • You compare????????????????????

  • Do i compare cows and pigs to pilot whales? Yes i do, there is no difference. Killing a whale is the same as killing a pig. Why do you insist to treat whales like humans, why are whales better than dogs or sheep?

  • Helenread25

    Because most people recognize at some level that the Cetaceans are ensouled for evolution like humans.

  • Okay if I understood that right with my limited English. You are saying that whales have souls like humans, and are evolving into conscious and smart creatures?

    Well first of all there is nothing as a soul, souls are man made. And whales aren't smarter than sheep. If I understood it wrong feel free to correct me.

  • helenread25

    I don't think the Faroese are Barbaric for eating whale meat.
    I grew up on a farm and participated in the butchering. It did seriously curb my appetite
    for meat. I also witnessed dairy work,I was a fishery observer, and also worked in a fish processing plant/cold storage. It does just become a job, as anything else you grow accustomed to doing.

    The mercury poisoning is a good enough reason to stop cultivating whale meat though.
    It's not that hard to adjust to new habits if there's good logic behind them. Like quitting smoking because it's poisonous and pointless.

  • One day extinction will be just, extinction to the Faroe people that is!

  • Max

    WOW It isn't as though whales are sentient beings. (possibly dolphins but pilot whales are not the same) And you stupid Bastards are saying that other human beings should be killed, or punished for this. You people are sick. How about giving a damn about your fellow man before creatures of the sea? Thousands of people die every day from hunger, and you know what? They provide the meat that comes from these whales (for free) to the citizens of the islands. They are helping the world more than you are, you assholes.

  • Rishad

    Hey Max,
    Fellow men like you that support this act I value far lower than any whale, dolphin or any other living being at that, including a little ant.
    You're far more expendable in my book, than all of those. Go find other ways to " help the world" and justify your cruel ways.

  • Rishad

    Culture that is wrong should change, and be made to change when it is this wrong. The fact this has gone on so many years never justifies it is still wrong, cruel and barbaric. The fact that these men justify their actions saying its in the interests of their economy, etc still does not make their huge wrong into right. These folk need to find new forms to boost their economy and satiate their need to be cruel. Lets keep in mind some lame minded men came up with the culture in the first place, for it could never have come down from God to be so cruel to our fellow inhabitants of the earth.
    Such downright crazy acts and rituals are only followed and carried out by people with limited intelligence levels, a weakness that allows them to follow the pack as in herd mentality and a total lack of respect for other living beings. We saw it when much of Germany put similar blind, herd faith behind the man Adolf Hitler, and here we see another, similar example still happening.
    It would be fitting for the people doing this act to pay for their cruelty in blood, and with the blood of their own, for nothing short of this will make them understand what it is to be so cruel and take innocent lives of harmless, defenseless lives around us in the name of ritual, age old custom, age old rituals, hunger, economy and whatever else they may offer us as justification.

  • Melinda

    SICK SICK SICK!!! That is cruel and absolutely discusting. Tradition or not.. it's sick! I can't believe people flock to watch this slaughter. The last minutes of those animals lives are horrific.

  • simply horrific and barbaric

  • marie72

    they kill more whales then people that live in that little town...

  • marie72

    This getting out will lose out on tourists and send extreme anti-whalers your way.The meat is poison so why kill whales that will give your children birth defects .The meat cannot be eaten for nourishment,it is time for this tradition to be seen in the history books!

  • rbuyny

    Need there be anything said??????
    This is inhumane and must be stopped.

  • Faroe Islands

    Every country has their own traditions, up here we kill whales, thats at least better than killing people.
    Vegetarian means "Bad Hunter" thats why they don't eat meat.
    Why not eat whale meat when you can eat any other meat?

  • Better than killing anyone, what the!

  • Maya

    Those whales are killed in such a brutal way.

  • Maria

    Actually, they are killed in a quite humane way and die within seconds. It's not more brutal than slaughtering cows or pigs

  • What 300 seconds!

  • Sippy

    I dont understand...veggieterians dont eat meat because they dont think its fair to animals(or they dont like the taste of meat) but not because they are bad hunters. my friend has never hunted but she wont eat meat because its not fair to animals, i eat meat but I dont understand why its a tradition. I have a few questions can I ask you please?

  • blcalfaf

    Ask me,im a pure vegetarian.

  • jake colly

    stop the maddness

  • Joshua Brzezinski

    This is the most brutal sight ever what kind of ass eats whale meat in this day and age. And for those who do not know god forbids us to eat any bottom dwellers of the sea such as crab shrimp lobster etc.... And he also forbids us to eat anything in the sea without scales ie whales sharks etc...... I love and respect animals more than your average asshole human being who is wihout compasion my cat is more compasionate and loving than your average person to hell with whalers the japs who hunt big whales bc they all have tiny penises and can't handle anything big it offends them and to anyone else who hunts these poor animals they need to buy some beef a mans meat

  • Ári

    Yes you show big compasion by calling people for asses

  • White Shepherd mom

    Tired of people who are armchair activists. If you believe in the cause as strongly as you want me to believe, get off your butt and actually do something constructive. You have no right to criticize the practice of people you know nothing about.

  • Keeks

    It is disgusting and nothing more than murder! It does not matter if it is a human or an animal a killing is a murder. I do not know how anyone can do this adn sleep at night it sickens me to the core!! Lets start hitting their friends and familys with giant hooks and clubs and see if they find it entertaining?

  • Ári

    Yea let's start with you!

  • JanneE

    PLEASE READ THIS - Faroese are not Danes!!!

    Think twice before you state something you're not completely sure about!!!

    Faroe Islands is a independent island, that have their own parliament, culture, currency and language. It is not near Denmark and you CANNOT call these people Danes! Faroe Island is like Greenland, formally under the Danish queen but is an independent republic!!!! Check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F... and googlemaps for location.

    It is brutal what is happening, I agree... But just to make it clear that this is not Danes doing this terrible stuf!!!

  • Babu

    Bastards (literally, from heart) become sensible. Try to think & behave like humans.
    Stop doing this.

  • Leonardo Manzon Contiero

    :'(
    Why don´t these disqualified beings don´t use these weapons for killing themselves?
    ...
    the human beiing is disgusting!

  • ASSASSINS!
    To the people of the Faroe Islands...I say, "STOPTHIS SENSELESS MASSACRE!!!" Anyone who could bury a hook into the backof a whale, drag it to shore, slit its throat, and butcher it, deservesto die of mercury poisoning...or worse.
    Whale & Dolphin massacre in Europe
    www.nowpublic.com/environment/whale-dolphin-massacre-europe

  • Ári

    MIRIAM are you here as well? isn't it enough spaming my dad's pics on flikr?

  • Mark Thorpe

    Burning witches at the stake USED to be a tradition in a time when we knew no better. As the World evolves we can't allow such acts to be put down to a cultural necessity. This is wrong, to make an animal suffer this way is wrong, purely and simply. You can't defend an act of such brutality as being something required by your culture. If you can't get it up or need to prove yourself to women......buy viagra.

  • Tia Serena

    The data about the number of whales caught per year is available since 1700s when this hunt was regulated, and has always been around 1200 individuals per year. In the last 20 years it has been reduced to around 900. That represents around 0.1% of the world population of long-finned pilot whales...
    Overall not much different of what happens in slaughterhouses around the world.
    I am much more worried about Japans succesfull campaign to dismiss the ban on whale hunting overall....

  • HamalSharatan

    If they have to eat, that's fine, but at least kill the whales in a quick manner, as painless as possible.

  • Christie

    This is Aweful and I cant believe this sort of stuff can still be happening

  • Stephanie

    I can understand why they do this. It is a tradition. I can understand the slauter of these creatures! We all eat! We all eat differant things! But when you kill more or take more than you need! Then there is a problem! But in the end the Faroe islanders are the ones who pay with the high mercuy content in the meat! Illness, retardation of the young, and death is a high price to pay for harritage! I am not saying STOP! I am saying even traditions can be altered. Changed for the way of time. A 1000 years ago or so when it was started I am sure the meat was more healthier. Not filled with as much of this deadly toxin! Is tradition worth the life of your unborn? Is the price of tradition worth your life? Some may say yes! After all who are we to judge when some have killed in the name of faith! Yes there should be a change for their health and the creatures they kill! But if we are willing to kill HUMANS over land, politics, and relgion? Are we just as horriable as those who slauter inicent animals who do nothing to us? I can except killing creatures to eat and live. But more than your fill is just wrong!!!

  • TB

    That is so sad. =[

  • Eugene

    What did the pilot whales do to them huh? How evil and cruel. Noobs like them are so rude and cruel!

  • Dan

    i think US should invade Faroe Islands to bring the civilization to the island !

  • Friend

    Hi, I'm faroese. How are you all doing? We love you too. :D

  • Andreas

    I support the Faroe Islanders' right to slaughter whales humanely and sustainably, for sustenance.

    ... as opposed to the right of urban-dwelling carnivores to sprout nonsense on blogs after feeding themselves with meat that was farmed unsustainably, cruelly and for profit.

  • blcalfaf

    all i can say is look at the vid ''if slaughterhouses had glass walls,we would all be vegetarians.''

  • Titian

    I've been extremely glum since I saw those terrifying pictures. I'm wondering if no animal-related groups ( like Sea Shepherd ) launch any campaign to protest against those barbaric Faroese's atrocity ? Don't use " tradition " as an excuse , otherwise , the cannibal practice shouldn't have been forbidden cuz that used to be a " tradition " in some uncivilized tribes. This is the 21th century , a century of highly spiritual realization and awareness . Any form of distress or terror that humans afflict on the other species should be abandoned .

    Please sign the petiton to ask the Faroese to outlaw such massacre.
    http://gopetition.com/petition...

  • Row

    This is CRUEL! The killing of these Pilot whales is cruel!
    It should be stopped

  • Suzette sy

    i hope they all die of mercury poisoning!!!!

  • Dawson

    There sure are quite a few supposedly civilized humans leaving comments. To suggest or condone the killing of humans, slicing their throats and all manner of murder..... you're the gruesome ones.... because they killed a whale?
    Where's your concern for millions of cows smacked in the head with a hammer, the chickens with their heads sliced off, pigs disembowled alive? Should the whole food production industry be slaughtered because they provide hamburgers and bacon for your fat arses? Yeah right! Double standards.
    You guys are nothing but uneducated sheep who read propaganda, believe, weep, rage on a blog and..... do nothing anyway. what a bunch of pansys.

  • forget tradition

    you people that believe this is tradition are retarded. what did the whales do to you to deserve this i think anyone and everyone that has ever done this or is ok with this should have there back sliced and sharpend objects ran through there spinal coard skrew tradition i hope everyone ok with this and the people doing it get eatin and feel the pain before they die like the whales do

  • a less selfish person

    PS. I like the idea of dropping a huge hair dryer into the water. At least whale no. 73 doesn't have to witness 72 deaths before it's his turn, or to swim in his family's blood before someone saws his head off. Imagine the saw got stuck between the vertebraes...

  • a less selfish person

    I CAN UNDERSTND MEAT EATING IS INEVITABLY ( BY STANDARDS OF TODAY) A NORM, BUT KILLING IS AGAINST MOST PEOPLE'S GOOD CONSCIOUS.

    EVERYTHING THAT LIVES HAS FEELINGS, OTHERWISE THEY WOULDN'T THRIVE TO SURVIVE. IF BY BEING THE STRONGER SURVIVER GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO TAKE THE WEAK'S LIFE, YOU ARE GIVING THAT GUY TWICE YOUR SIZE THE RIGHT TO SLAUGHTER YOU FOR WHATEVER REASONS HE HAS.

    I JUST WISH THAT EVERYONE WHO HAS EVER KILLED TO CONTEMPLATE THE FEELINGS OF THAT SLAUGHTERED. THE FEAR AND PAIN IT/HE ENDURES BEFORE DEATH.

    IS THERE A WAY TO LIMIT KILLING? IF NOT, AT LEAST DO IT IN A MORE HUMANE FASHION TO LESSON THE PAIN AND SUFFERING? (since traditions is merely for nostalgia and serves no practical purpose, and it hardly weighs against matters of life and death)

  • rose

    Why aren't people appalled by the slaughter of pigs? They are very intelligent animals and live most of their lives in a crowded pen. Their tails are cropped off before they are trucked to the slaughter house because they are penned in so tight they bite off each others tails. At least the pilot whales have had the luxury of living a life free to swim and nurse their young in a clean habitat. They die a quick death and don't have half as much trauma as a pig or cow going into the slaughter house! I am not a vegan but I do only buy free range beef,
    pork, chicken etc. I always ask when I attempt to buy at a restaurant or fast food if any meals are from animals that are free range! It is expensive and right now I don't have the extra money to afford free range so I do without. So I guess I'm a sometime vegan. Please request free range when you shop for meat. You may have to go to Whole Foods or Trader Joe's etc. You won't get it at McD's or Boston Mkt. etc. but you will at Chipotle's.

  • Bardur Nielsen, Faroese

    "Ironically, this practice, called grindadráp, is diminishing the population of 5,000 islanders. Many of them get sick and die from high mercury levels in the whales. Mentally retarded children are reportedly being born at alarmingly high rates."

    My God, please do some research before you publish this ridiculous article! There has not been one single case of that nature. You guys should rather discuss how we have made rules and actions against killing pilot whales in barbaric ways. And maybe throw in a few words about how we help people around the world through food programmes and funding.
    Anyway, those of you who are writing comments about how the Faroese population should be thrown in the sea and hunted afterwards, well, I'm pretty sure you guys support that every day in all the wars that your own countries are participating!
    Kiss my xxx, and mind your own fuxxxxx business!

  • Poul Bent

    Amen to that Bro´!

  • A friend of all living things

    This article was sent to me by a friend. I love animals and for me they are on the same level as humans. Especialy if you look at the reality that we are also only an animal.

    These pictures look bad and they are shocking, but alot of people have commented on the situation with out looking at the big picture.

    The people from the Faroese Island are not just following a tradition, they are surviving. They need food and as most people know humans need animal protien to survive and be healthy.

    There are other animals that need the help that will disapear if we dont do somthing. If you think this is bad, I have never seen anyone up in arms about a cat that managed to kill to the point of extinction of an entire bird race.....This was one cat that lived in a light house on a tiny island off the shores of australia...

  • Marina

    This is horible..horror! I can belive that people can really do things like this! Murders and killers that's what they are.. I wish u all burn in hell..god damn u should be all lock down in prison to rot like the whales u kill and leave on the bay. And who says that this animals are not protected??? U are all stupid people, they are protected and endangered! I'm just happy that I don't live there.. How can u be so cruel? That's really fucked up tradition! Hell it's not even a tradition it's shit!
    KILLERS!!!!!!

  • alexus lupercio

    Ithink that this animal shoud be left alone...

  • dave

    at first, looking at the images bothered me deeply, they still do. i thought the entire act was barbaric and cruel, but after reading some comments and understanding where the meat that i buy comes from, it seemed hypocritical and to a small degree foolish to think that the faroese people are any less cruel and inhuman than myself. if anything they are more attached to who we really are as a species than the majority of people in the world. i buy my meat packaged and ready to cook, and rarely do I get my hands dirty. the faroese, geographically speaking, are isolated and most of what they consume comes from local sources.

    I am not much of a traditionalist, and don't believe that this should continue if it is mainly to honour their ancient viking culture. however, if the pilot whale meat is a main source of their nutrition, not endangered, and all the meat is used, i do not see the sense in supporting a ban on this practice. the methods they use do seem very torturous, but corralling herds of animals to kill is a primitive method that has been done for thousands of years.

    the real tragedy is that the whale meat that they consume is contaminated with mercury and they are being affected by it. whether the faroese people are responsible for that, i am not sure, but i highly doubt it. it is most likely the result of a global irresponsibility toward our environment.

    those of you that are vegan, i commend you on believing in something and disciplining your lives accordingly. for myself i will continue to buy food and meat from local farms that employ honest and ethical business standards.

  • MrMY

    some people are realy sick, they think they're right! im not seen killing/slaughtered those whales are heartless as they consumed for their daily life.. the pilot whales are not endangered species. they just killing hundreds not thousand when the're hundred of thousands more outthere!!!! would u stop eating hamburgers???!!

  • that is sad and crul and people should be killed fore doing that

  • Erika

    I think that this is absolutely horrible! WHOEVER THINKS THIS IS OK YOU ARE SICK MINDED!

  • gnarlydog

    Wow, it blows my mind that by the replies to this post there are so many self righteous critics out there.
    While most of them seem to hang onto the "barbaric tradition" aspect and abuse that angle, very few really address that the dolphins are not really killed for fun: they are killed for sustenance.
    Furthermore it's clearly understood that it is not done for commercial purposes but for livelihood.
    I applaud the people that have the insight to do the comparison of slaughtering livestock for food.
    And correctly stated: unless you are a vegan your comments against the killing of the dolphins does not have much ground to stand on.
    Not justifying the practice but not condemning it either.
    It's just too easy to be sitting somewhere comfortably typing away while so detached from that reality of the Faroe Islands.
    As mentioned before: have a good look at yourself in the mirror...
    just your pure existence on this planet is harming somebody somewhere.
    Now, go and get a Big Mac and digest this reality :-0

  • Torashina

    Cows really wouldn't be around inless we did eat them anyway. Do I agree with methods of raising and killing them? Hell no. This is why I drink only organic milk.

    There's a balance in this world, humans are tipping the scales. This shall lead us to our demise. The world is only what you see through your own World View. It's too bad many of us can't open our minds to other cultures, figuring out a way to live with eachother. I still stand on no killing the whales though.

    I suppose if I could I would rather live in a world were if you had to eat meat you could only hunt something that could kill you back. This would give my prey a fair advantage. This would even the odds.

  • Torashina

    Oh why don't we make killing human babies a tradition? The worlds overpopulating and I'm sure if we make it a tradition it will be okay!

    If whales weren't dissappearing so fast I really wouldn't mind this as much but the fact that they are going onto the brink of extinction and the fact that there are waaaaaaaaaaay toooo many humans out there it just sort of sickens me. I'm sorry if it offends your "tradition" but you could find a new one or just talk about the days of ol' like most folk do. We have other sources of food now we don't need to eat whales anymore. You could make hunting rabbits a tradition there's plenty of them and they can reproduce much faster than a whale!

  • Jakkie

    If you think this is inhuman you have to see how traditional killings are done in South Africa. And we can't do anything about it because it's part of their culture. And most times (when they have to do a sangoma ritual) the animal suffers so much it dies from shock and they don't even eat the animal. They only drink their blood. THAT my friends are brutal and there are little children watching and growing up with the idea that it is normal.

  • Heid

    It is true that it looks terrible. And it is true that when you see blood then everyone goes whaaa whaaa about killings. And its also true what the Faroese guy said. So all in all I believe people must maybe start to look at the bigger picture here. I'm also not keen on killings of any kind but would spend my energy more on solving other problems than carry on about how terrible people are

  • A hey

    The problem is these people are eating whales that they can't replace. So they are not endangered now but guarantee they will be. Just lookk at what we have done to the stocks in the oceans.....blue fin tuna, etc. We kill them and they are not replaced.....I am not saying it is right but beef, pork etc. are replaced. we killl our livestock but we also raise more. In the ocean they are just gone, forever! I know farming practices are not the best or even close to the best.
    Also, these whales are loaded with mercury and the people are destroying themselves by eating them. The whole slaughter is ridiculous........some traditions just have to stop.

  • Aggie

    It’s shame for humanity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!We live in 21st century but are actually as PRIMITIVE as thousands of years ago. The saddest thing is we all will look at this e-mail but nothing will actually change. Or maybe I'm wrong and there is anything we ALL reading this article could do about this slaughtery?

  • Todd

    "Maybe they could drop a giant hair dryer in the water and shock the whales to death."
    Haha

    It looks bad, but if doesn't effwect their numbers, if they're not endagered, what's the big deal. Do those of you who are against this eat meat? Chicken? Eggs? Cheese? Drink Milk? All of this comes from animals that are caged, slaughtered etc. Those of you who are stating that these people should be shot, have their throats cut etc should take a hard look at yourself in the mirror, unless you are vegan you have no right to criticise and are adding to the hypocracy that surrounds this subject.
    If you can't kill it, don't eat it!

  • kurosagi

    But since there is a high mercury level, will you still consume the meat? If not, the whales just die for nothing!! Killing is not a tradition to be preserve.

  • mali

    No one should be allowed to kill for the tradition! And call himself human!!!
    They should be ashamed and baned to walk the rest of the earth!

  • Maybe they could drop a giant hair dryer in the water and shock the whales to death.

  • ExarKun

    The people eat the whale they slaughter so its not just senseless murder. But regardless, i think there should be a more honourable way to put these beautiful and intelligent creatures to the sword. Maybe they could change the way the slaughtering is carried out. Being a descendant of vikings doesn't mean one should act like one.

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