14 DAY TRIAL // Green group Sea Shepherd is now getting ready to launch is largest campaign in the Faroe Islands to date. The campaign, dubbed Operation Grindstop 2014, has been initiated and is now being coordinated by Robert Read from Sea Shepherd UK.
Its purpose is to put an end to the slaughter of pilot whales and dolphins that takes place in this part of the world on a regular basis.
In a blogspot detailing its reasons to roll out this campaign, Sea Shepherd explains that, each hunting season, men in the Faroe Islands herd whales and dolphins swimming in 23 different bays to shore, and then slaughter them.
“Faroese men plunge blades into the whales’ bodies until each cetacean’s spinal cord is severed, rarely on the first attempt and more often it takes several minutes for the whale or dolphin to die,” the organization claims, as cited by Ecorazzi.
“The pursuit and beaching of these animals is extremely terrifying and stressful for them (in the UK, and also across Europe, the harassment of dolphins and whales is a crime in itself) and the killing looks just like what it actually is – a frenzied massacre of innocents,” the conservationists further argue.
By the looks of it, the men who organize and take part in these slaughters spare none of the marine mammals that beach themselves after being herded towards the shoreline. Thus, mother, babies and pregnant females are also killed.
People in the Faroe Islands claim that the whales and dolphins are killed in order to provide local communities with meat. However, the conservationists explain that, more often than not, the meat ends up in restaurants that serve it to tourists.
Sea Shepherd’s upcoming campaign in the Faroe Islands will employ several tactics. Some will focus on raising awareness of these brutal killings, others are intended to actually stop the hunters from slaughtering the marine mammals.
“Sea Shepherd Global’s campaign will utilize a variety of methods to combat the Faroese Grind including public education, land-based investigations, media relations, deterrent patrols, government relations, celebrity involvement, non-violent interventionist tactics and education of the local eco-tourism industry, among other tactics,” the organization explains.