Tradition of hunting dolphins in Denmark’s Faroe Islands has received criticism after a record 1,428 dolphins were killed with knives in one day, British public broadcaster BBC reports.
On Sunday, September 12, The pod of white-sided dolphins was driven into the largest fjord in the North Atlantic territory. Boats herded them into shallow waters at Skalabotnur beach in Eysturoy, where they were killed with knives. The carcases were pulled ashore and distributed to locals for consumption.
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According to the Faroese government about 600 pilot whales are caught every year on average. White-sided dolphins are caught in lower numbers, such as 35 in 2020 and 10 in 2019.
Hunting supporters are of the opinion that whaling is a sustainable way of gathering food from nature and an important part of their cultural identity. However, animal rights activists have long disagreed, deeming the slaughter cruel and unnecessary. According to Bjarni Mikkelsen, a marine biologist from the Faroe Islands, records showed that this was the largest number of dolphins ever killed on one day in the Faroe Islands, a autonomous territory of Denmark.
1,428 dolphins hunted in single day in Faroe Islands
