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| A pilot whale.© John H. Tashjian/California Academy of Sciences |
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Many people have seen the
graphic pictures portraying the annual drive hunt of pilot whales in the Faroe Islands, an autonomous province of Denmark. During these hunts, pods of pilot whales, a species in the dolphin family, are driven ashore and then brutally killed. About 950 pilot whales die every year during the killing season, which generally takes place in the summer.
Taking the Right Approach
In widely circulated chain emails displaying the gruesome pictures, the pilot whale hunt has frequently been described inaccurately as a rite of passage for young boys. In fact, the hunt is conducted by the men of the community and the Faroese consider it to be part of their cultural heritage; they have incorporated the meat into their diets for generations. Because of this, most protest efforts in the past by groups concerned with animal welfare and population sustainability have only inflamed the situation and pushed the hunt numbers up, making the hunt into more of a demonstration of community pride than a necessary food source. In recent years, the numbers of pilot whales killed have been in decline, quite possibly because the population around the Faroe Islands is in decline.
HSI works closely with WDCS (the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society), which has approached this issue indirectly, in an effort to avoid reinforcing local resistance to international protests. Since the pilot whale hunt is conducted for local consumption, WDCS has highlighted the negative side of eating the meat. Scientific studies have shown that pilot whale meat is highly contaminated with PCBs, heavy metals, and other toxins. Pregnant Faroese women and young children have historically been frequent consumers of the meat, resulting in an increase in learning disabilities and other health problems in the population. An advisory recommending only limited pilot whale meat consumption for these groups is now issued by the government, but the hunt goes on.
| Update |
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On December 1, 2008, Faroese chief medical officers announced that pilot whale meat contains too much mercury, PCBs and DDT derivatives to be safe for human consumption. |
Unnecessary Slaughter
The Faroese pilot whale hunts are now completely unnecessary as they are no longer needed to provide food for islanders. With recent studies showing that the meat from dolphin species contains toxins that are unsafe to consume, no one should be eating meat from the pilot whales anyway. And of course pilot whales, who are intelligent, highly social animals, are forced to endure severe physical and psychological suffering during the drive hunt—the hunt does not meet humane slaughter standards at any level.
The Faroe Islands’ international image is already tarnished as word of the hunts spreads around the globe. The hunt discourages tourists from visiting the Islands and will continue to do so until the killing has stopped. The Faroese government needs to take action and end the hunts once and for all in order to save its image and spare hundreds of pilot whales the cruel deaths that take place every year in these northern islands.
You Can Help
If you would like to take action against the hunt, you can write to the Faroese government and tourist board and explain your concerns and why you think it should be stopped, mentioning the reasons above.
Faroese government contact information:
Prime Minister's Office
Løgmansskrivstovan
Tinganes
P.O.Box 64
FO—110 Tórshavn
Tel: +298 351010
Fax: +298 351015
E-mail: info@tinganes.fo
Faroe Islands Tourist Board contact information:
Faroe Islands Tourist Board
Samvit—Faroe Islands Enterprise
Bryggjubakki 12
P.O. Box 118, FO-110 Torshavn, FAROE ISLANDS
E-mail: tourist@tourist.fo
