Saturday, August 15, 2015

Sea turns BLOOD red: 61 pilot whales savagely massacred in yet ANOTHER needless slaughter

Sea turns BLOOD red: 61 pilot whales savagely massacred in yet ANOTHER needless slaughter

THE SEA off the Faroe Islands has been turned blood red after 61 pilot whales were cornered and brutally slaughtered.


This was the horrifying scene on a beach in the Faroe Islands yesterday
Mayk Wendt/Facebook

This was the horrifying scene on a beach in the Faroe Islands yesterday

The carnage - which took place as 500 locals cheered - left Sandavagur Beach on the island of Vagur awash with gallons of whale blood.

It is the fifth slaughter of the season on the Faroes, which has seen 490 pilot whales killed on the archipelago since June.

Five members of Sea Shepherd conservation society - including British campaigner Lawrie Thomson - were arrested as they tried to stop the grusome spectacle yesterday.

Sea Sheperd founder Captain Paul Watson said: "Our boat, Echo, tried to turn the pod but were overwhelmed by numerous Faroese boats who drove the whales back to the beach.

"The barbarian thugs are now knifing the pod, blood is pouring into the seas and the killers are celebrating their savage tradition."
More than 500 people watched on as the pilot whales were killed
Mayk Wendt

More than 500 people watched on as the pilot whales were killed

Canadian-born Captain Watson, who was an influential member of Greenpeace before he formed Sea Shepherd, added: "Our land team leader was stopped by the police before she could reach the water."It's a bloodbath and this island has already taken more whales than they can possibly use. They kill for the sake of killing, for the love of killing."

61 whales were herded into the beach and slaughtered for their meat
Thomas Michael Heller/Facebook

61 whales were herded into the beach and slaughtered for their meat

The 'grindadráps' are non-commercial, community-organised whale hunts open to anyone with a certificate in slaughtering a whale with a spinal cord lance.

There is archaeological evidence dating Faroese whaling back more than a thousand years ago and drive hunts back to 1584. Whale meat and blubber have been an important part of the islanders' diets but there has been growing international condemnation of the slaughter.

Campaigners gave a detailed account of the lastest grindadráp, describing how its crews had tried to defend the pilot whales and named the five members arrested as Rudy de Kieviet of the Netherlands, obias Boehm of Germany, Alice Bodin of Italy, and Frances Holtman of the United States - and Lawrie Thomson.
All five have had their passports confiscated and will be required to remain in the Faroe Islands until further notice.

A small Sea Shepherd boat had been patrolling the area and arrived as the whale pod of whales was being driven to the Sandavágur 'killing beach'.

Campaigners said their boat managed to get between the hunting flotilla and the whales and despite being drastically outnumbered, managed to re-direct the pod which may have numbered as many as 200 individuals.

On shore, five Sea Shepherd volunteers ran into the sea and tried to save a group of 61 whales that the hunters had managed to drive to the beach, but within two hours of the dtart of the drive, all were dead.
"How much longer can the government of Denmark continue its arrogant support of this bloody practice, which is in direct conflict with its commitments to international law?

"This is Denmark's shame, and this is Denmark's responsibility, and this government must be held accountable for its actions under the terms of the European Union."

So far, 12 campaigners have been arrested on the Faroes as part of its Operation Sleppid Grindini, the sixth pilot whale defence campaign on the archipelago.
The whales were herded by the boats into shallow waters
Victoria Salançon/Facebook
The whales were herded by the boats into shallow waters
Pilot whales before they were capturedFacebook/Sea Shepherd Global
Pilot whales before they were captured

Last year we reported how protestors held the in opposition to the "barbaric" slaughter of dolphins in Japan.

Up to a thousand furious demonstrators gathered outside the Japanese embassy in London to protest the "atrocious" killing of up to 20,000 dolphins, whales and porpoises in the country every year.

The majority of the creatures - including several thousand at the notorious Taiji Cove - are killed for meat but some are captured for zoos and aquariums.

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