COPENHAGEN, Denmark, August 15, 2015 (ENS) – Four Sea Shepherd volunteers, arrested for protesting the slaughter of hundreds of pilot whales, were deported from the Faroe Islands before dawn on Friday morning.
Sea Shepherd Land Team Leader Rosie Kunneke of South Africa and volunteers Christophe Bondue of Belgium, Marianna Baldo of Italy and Kevin Schiltz of Luxembourg were escorted by plainclothes police officers onto a ferry at Tórshavn, bound for Hirchalls, Denmark.
Sea Shepherd crew deported by the Faroe Islands, from left: Rosie Kunneke, Christophe Bondue, Marianna Baldo and Kevin Schiltz, August 2015 (Photo courtesy Sea Shepherd)
On August 8, the four Sea Shepherd volunteers were found guilty of breaking the Faroe Islands’ Pilot Whaling Act and public disturbance for interfering in the July 23 slaughter of more than 250 pilot whales on the beaches of Bøur and Tórshavn.
Each of the volunteers was sentenced to either pay a fine of between 5,000 Danish krones (US$740) and 35,0000 krones (US$5,000), or serve jail time of between eight and 14 days.
The prosecution also asked that the Sea Shepherd protestors be deported from the Faroe Islands. Appeals to the sentences and deportations were lodged at once by the defense.
On August 11, the volunteers visited Tórshavn police station, to inform authorities that they chose jail time over deportation.
Police said the final decision would be made by Danish immigration officials and asked that the request to serve jail time be submitted in writing.
On Thursday, the four were notified that the appeal against their deportation was denied, and they would be deported from the Faroe Islands on Friday.
Kunneke said, “This attempt to deport us, before the appeal to our sentencing is heard, undermines our basic human rights to a fair trial, and is just another attempt to silence any opposition to the slaughter of pilot whales in the Faroe Islands.”
So far this year, 12 Sea Shepherd volunteers, representing the United Kingdom, Italy, Corsica/France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the United States, have been arrested in the Faroe Islands.
All those arrested are accused of interfering in the drive hunt of pilot whales and other small cetaceans, known as the grindadráp.
Sixty-one pilot whales were killed in the Faroe Islands, Aug. 12, 2015 (Photo by Mayk Wendt courtesy Sea Shepherd)
Bloody images and footage of the slaughter as well as the arrests of five Sea Shepherd crew on July 23 and two other crew on July 20, for whom sentencing is pending, have sparked worldwide calls for Denmark to halt its support of the bloodshed.
But the killing continues. On August 12, another five Sea Shepherd volunteers were arrested for attempting to interfere in a grind, where 61 pilot whales died on the beach in Sandvagur.
On its website, Sea Shepherd describes the brutality of the grind. “Despite claims from Faroese whalers, the grind brings a slow, painful and terrifying death to these highly intelligent and socially complex marine mammals. Entire pods are forced to the shallow waters by hunting boats, in a drive hunt similar to that in Taiji, Japan’s infamous killing cove. Following the stressful drive to shore, those pilot whales who do not beach have a gaff hook stabbed into their blowhole and are pulled ashore by rope. There, they are brutally slaughtered by the severing of their spinal cord. Some take up to 30 seconds to die, while others suffer for as long as four minutes.”
Award-winning American actor Martin Sheen sent a letter August 13 to Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, calling for an end to Denmark’s support of the pilot whale slaughter.
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