Outcry over killing of almost 1,500 dolphins on Faroe Islands
Many Faroese horrified by what Sea Shepherd group claims was largest such massacre in the islands' history
Heri Petersen, who chairs the local Grind hunting association in the bay where the killing took place, said that far too many dolphins had been herded into the bay over too long a distance, with too few people waiting on the beach to kill them, prolonging their agony.
"I'm appalled at what happened," he told the local In.fo news site. "The dolphins lay on the beach writhing for far too long before they were killed."
Hans Jacob Hermansen, the former chairmen of the Faroese Grind Association, which campaigns for the survival of the traditional hunt, told the local Kringvarp Føroya broadcaster that he was shocked by the event, which he said "destroys all the work we have done to preserve the Grind".
"The world has become much smaller today, with everyone walking around with a camera in their pocket," said his successor, Ólavur Sjúrðarberg. "This is a gift to those who wish us ill when it comes to the Grind."
The Grind is significant for many Faroese people, with spectators coming out to watch from the shore, and the meat from the catch traditionally shared among the families that participated, with any excess then spread among local villagers.
But one local told the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet that there was no way that locals would want to consume this much dolphin meat.
"My guess is that most of the dolphins will be thrown in the trash or in a hole in the ground," they said. "We should have quotas per district, and we should not kill dolphins."
Captain Alex Cornelissen, the global chief executive of Sea Shepherd, which campaigns against whaling, said that in the midst of a global pandemic it was "absolutely appalling to see an attack on nature of this scale in the Faroe Islands".