Pero how are you things can not be justified , so cruel and desagradables. Glad you found the article to be well written and informative. I respect your view that you do not stand behind the grind. So the grind is really no different. Which is why I find the huge outcry to be so very hypocritical when eating meat and manufacturing it in a very cruel way is so prevalent worldwide. Why is it ok to say that we can inflict suffering on a pig, but not a whale.
Or a chicken, but not a whale. I notice while your article is very well balanced regarding Faoese culture it ignores the whales well being and the fact that they are hugely sentient creatures and on a par with humans at an emotional level if not higher. I read your article and it made me want to avoid the Faroe Islands. I know you are trying to promote reasoned, rational discussion on the topic. I do respect the honesty though.
Just the blood filled Fjords are a major turnoff. I hope it turns out OK. And I think, despite your comments above, you are indeed ignoring what the whales go through. As sentient beings they just be terrified during the grind, waiting for their death. It seems like there is no empathy for these creatures. That makes me sad.
Hi Michael, thanks for sharing your views. I respect your opinion, though I do think that if we saw photos from other countries around the world and how they slaughter their meat, the photos would be just as gruesome. My main qualm with the opposition of the grind is when it is opposed aggressively, debated without the facts, and the huge level of hypocrisy that usually accompanies these views.
I personally agree here with the Faroese that the value of life should not based on the level of understanding or intelligence or nervous system capacity, but more about how the value of life is all the same. In this sense, my opinion is that we kill sheep, and horses, and fish, and no-one has a problem with it. So why not a whale. I do agree with you though, I think you are a minority. As an example of sentientness of cetaceans a female dolphin in Taji was witnessed deliberately committing suicide after her calf was captured and yet you make justifications based on outdated traditions for their killing.
In fact many societies which would be considered far more primitive than the Forese which slaughter animals believe it wrong to cause unnecessary suffering. Are you also aware that the Faorese government inacted a law obliging everyone including visiting tourists to report sighting of whales and failure to do so would result in criminal prosecution?
Hi Dermot, thanks for reaching out again. We disagree on the killing methods of the grind not being humane. Whales are killed as quickly and with as little suffering as possible — the spinal lance which is used to sever the spinal cord, simultaneously severs the major blood supply to the brain.
This results in a loss of both consciousness and death within seconds which is a lot more humane than the way other animals are slaughtered throughout the world. It sounds like a truly unreal experience to have lived in remote regions of Africa and very close to traditional societies, though you seem to believe that the Faroese rejoice in their killing.
The whales are a source of food. Now of course, a strong argument can be made that since there is enough access to food nowadays, whale meat is not vital to survival as it has been in the past. And in my opinion that is where the real divide occurs — it comes down to how each person weighs culture over conservation.
I have been in the water with whales and dolphins, and they are unbelievable creatures. If you want people to take your opinions seriously you should think about toning it down 20 notches. And then maybe a bit more. Very nice article, I never imagine those details which many times lead me to a common tough over the actions of islanders. I have being many places, Denmark among them, so as they are a very friendly people I could not believe this may be an act of aggression or low educated people.
Now is clear to me and fully understandable, in fact they had survive and developing their place even in such remote location. Fact I would like we south-american could realize considering we have so blessing,rich and vast lands.
Hi Sahid, thankyou for stopping by our blog. I agree, the Danish people in my experience are some of the friendliest, welcoming and most open minded people I have experienced on the road. This is a great article about the grind very well explained, personally I think the faroes people have every right to sustainably hunt pilot whales!
They are not hunting for sport but for consumption. I come from Scotland and can remember whale hunting from parts of scotland, obviously in Scotland it was commercial hunting which was taking place and I can understand the EU ban for commercial whale hunting, but for the faroe islands I think these people should be left alone to get on with there lives not hassled of the rest of the world.
Hi John, thanks for stopping by our blog. I very much agree with you. I understand that people do feel strongly about the hunting of whales, but if you want to change something you need to at the very least respect the other side. The compassion for animals is no more or less lacking than in the rest of the Western world, I agree with you there. But my issue rests purely with the implication that the Faroese live such a simple, Amish-esque lifestyle. Hi David, thanks for your feedback — I think one of the biggest issues here is our difference in experience.
It sounds like you have spent quite an immersive and extensive time in the Faroe Islands, perhaps in the cities, while my experience is based off exploring over the course of two weeks, and while we spent time in the cities, we also saw very quaint villages which formed my overall descriptions and opinions of the archipelago.
So from a tourists perspective, I have written about the Faroe Islands we were presented with during our time. But honestly we could argue semantics on that back and forth and it will ultimately come down to a matter of opinion as to what you class as remote. Anyway I apologize if you were offended by my descriptions, however they were a reflection of our genuine experience. The islanders I spoke to and interacted with were very well educated, open minded, friendly and welcoming, and genuinely interesting people.
Though I stand by my experience that visiting here is like being transported into another time. This is one of the most neutral and well informed articles I have ever read about this topic. Well done! So this great article made my day. This topic is all about the will to listen, learn and respect, regardless of your personal opinion. I grew up learning and accepting the fact that the animals in our backyard was food and not pets. Every dinner I ate had names, and I knew very well that tomorrow it could be Rosemary or Donald Duck for dinner.
The past few years, people have harassed me because of my liberal farmers view on what is food and what is not. But I always think, to hell with it. In Western-Norway, where I live, it is not uncommon to serve the entire animal so that nothing is wasted. And you are absolutely correct, the more hatred — the more whaling. The hypocrite vegan social media propaganda that presents animals as cute, sensitive and more conscious than humans only makes us want to continue.
My grandfather is a retired whale and seal hunter. He told me that after every kill, he reflected deeply on his actions. Whales are big animals, big animals means big hearts and big hearts means alot of blood. Little did they realise that the burger they just ordered, or the sausages they just purchased was produced in the remote districts.
Hi Hakon, thanks for your comment. Absolutely, my whole mission as a traveler is to listen, learn and respect other cultures, even if I have a different point of view. Though I think that this is something that every human being should extend towards each other, traveler or not. How people act towards other people just because of cultural differences appalls me sometimes. But yes, to hell with it.
They expect it to show up on their plate, without having to get their hands dirty, and without knowing the reality of actually getting that food. It is horrific and barbaric…. Hi Mandy. So I stand by the statement as fact. They have their own. They just want to live. Thanks for your comment Wade, yes I think throughout this whole debate, the arguments have largely lost sight of the whales themselves.
From both sides. Wooden boats hunting few whales are now helicopter mass deportation. People are also fighting against slaughterhouses. Sea Shepherd is vegan. The only point left is Tradition. Hard to hear but so it is. And financially by European Commission through Danemark. There is nothing to learn in your article.
Ideologically true, but it creates awareness and strong fighting. Nothing else has proven any change. Hi Tahiti. Obviously, I completely disagree with everything you have said here, and it is my view that attitudes like yours are the problem. The meat IS eaten, and while the islands may not rely on whale meat as their sole source of food as they have done in past decades, it still represents about a quarter of the meat consumption in the Faroes, and as such remains economically significant.
And yes, hypocrisy. It is the height of cultural imperialism to assume that you can force your point of view onto another culture and make them bend to your will because your view is the more superior one. So why this article? And you better believe there is something to learn from this article, because it sees hundreds of views a day, and is very successful in making people think about this from the Faroese point of view. Cultural imperialism? Fighting against slaughter, on land as in water is just the good thing.
No matter your reasons. I just saw bullshit completely beside topic. As your answer to my message, totally beside each of my point. This is why you should write just for yourself. Try to think before writing. Unfortunately you seem to be continually missing the point.
There is no justification for slander or violent human behavior. No matter how righteous you believe your cause. And yes, it IS hypocritical that people who consume meat in their own life would take a stand against a country who consumes a different type of meat in theirs. It is the same thing, and that is the very definition of hypocrisy.
So if you agree with eating lamb, or cow, or chicken, it is hypcrotical to disagree with someone else deciding to eat whale. And yes, cultural imperialism.
You believe that slaughter is barbaric. That is the very definition of cultural imperialism. If you read this post and see bullshit that says to me that you have a very narrow minded view. I have presented the facts of the grind, I have taken a stand against people like yourself who resort to immoral slaughter shaming, and I have ended by concluding that if you do want to end the grind, peaceful dialogue and education are the only way to do so.
People who very strongly support the grind have written comments about how the article supports ending it, and people like you have written comments about how they think the article defends it. People like you have read what you want to, and not been willing to accept anything else exists beyond your opinion. The world i a cruel place ….
I Joan, I really am right there with you. I give the Faroese a lot of credit for the animal welfare legislation that they have in place to ensure the animals are killed as quickly and with as little suffering as possible. We will be travelling to the Faroe Islands next summer and I came to your article on trying to understand the issue.
Very nice article, with a lot of information and a nuanced opinion. It is refreshing to see a topic discussed in this way and the approach you took in this article would be very helpful in many other topics as well! But definitely the visual effect plays a great role here.
As far as I understand, it is actually quite a sustainable way of fishing both the number of whales being taken compared with the total population as the way of catching them. Many other practices such as fishing with trawler nets, overfishing, bycatch, fishing on young fish… are way more damaging and more disturbing to me.
Also whales have been heavily overhunted, which is why strong protection measures have been extremely important. So I completely agree that the Grindadrap is worth discussing, but the way the Faroes are shamed is inappropriate. Hi Peter, thanks for stopping by and reading our piece. It really is a special place. I am very sorry but I think that I disagree with you. Tell me if I misunderstood your post.
People are changing and some want to make our planet a better place. You know that our planet need it! Honestly this is very shocking! People often think that they can do wathever they want to animals but I disagree. We should leave them alone! Imagine being killed for the pleasure of people. With all my respect, M. Is it because the Faroe Islands are a small isolated nation perhaps that they feel they would be easier to bully than larger countries we call home?
Re your point about how killing can be legal — it is the same as how killing chickens can be legal in almost every country in the world; how killing pigs, and cows, and other animals can be legal in every country in the world for a source of food. How killing fish can be legal. To clarify — the whales in the Faroe Islands are not killed for the pleasure of people, they are killed as a source of food.
Meat consumption and hunting has been a huge part of human evolution, and continues to be so today. The killings here are not creul however if you believe that killing any animal is creul for food, we will just have to disagree , and are very quick and humane when completed.
But I stand firm in my belief that we have no right to force another country to bend to our beliefs when we in the Western world also kill meat for food. Take some responsibility for yourself and your actions. Fine if you want to eat meat preferably only a few times a week or less , but do your best to make sure those animals were treated well and lived good lives.
Humans are not seperate from life or our planet, we are PART of life, we are part of our planet and our ecosystem. I understand that these whale hunts are a part of Faroese culture for the past years or so, but so what? Slavery was part of many cultures around the world, for hundreds and thousands of years. This is not judgement, this is fact. Whales are sentient beings. Intelligence and consciousness DOES matter. Sorry, eating a chicken is different than eating a whale, just like eating a cow is different than eating a HUMAN.
Whales are at the same level of evolution, intelligence, and consciousness as humans are, so killing whales for food is the same as killing humans for food. If the Faroese really believe that all life is the equal, then they should just kill themselves instead of killing whales or any other animal, since they are the same, why should they kill something that is equal to themselves to feed themselves?
So that entire argument is stupid. Have you watched one of these hunts? They scream and laugh with glee and delight as they kill the whales. Most of the meat is wasted, the carcasses are dumped back into the oceans. Vikings were using motorboats and GPS tracking devices to hunt whales hundreds of years ago?
Yes, the Faroese initially tag some whales with GPS beacons then release them. Later, they go out with GPS trackers and find the whales again after they have joined with their families and entire pods, then round them up with motorboats, screaming and shouting at them and driving them around the ocean for hours and hours until the whales are exhausted, then they herd them into shallow bays where people with ropes and hooks and knives are waiting to drag them onto the beach and kill them.
They usually bleed out and die from blood loss. If they want to go out in longboats with paddles and try to hunt whales, fine, that would be fair, that would at least be giving these whales some respect and giving them a fair chance. This is not fair. This is not tradition. Perhaps you should educate yourself a bit more before posting this kind of garbage article on the internet. And perhaps YOU should have some respect for your food, then you might be in a better position to notice when other people are being blatantly cruel, disrespectful, and evil.
This is evil. Factory farms are evil. Destroying pristine rainforests to grow soybeans is evil. Does that sound sustainable to you? Can you imagine the effect of having 1 in of them being killed every year? Stop encouraging people to go visit this island and give their money to these people who brutally murder hundreds or thousands of sentient ocean beings every year for sport.
The meat is wasted. Aaaaand another thing. People raise chickens, pigs, and cows on farms, they are domesticated FOOD animals, and have been so for hundreds and thousands of years. Abusing and mistreating them is still disgusting and vile, but raising them on nice farms, treating them well, and respecting them, and then killing them as humanely as possible is the only ethical way we can be doing things. Which means factory farms need to disappear. Or, you can just go on being an uncaring, mindless, irresponsible, disrespectful, apathetic, cruel person for the rest of your life.
Your choice. But whales?? They are WILD. We do not OWN them. Someday, humans will learn to communicate with whales and dolphins and realize that they are our equals, they are essentially our brothers and sisters living in the oceans. Peaceful, loving, playful, intelligent beings. In response to your three separate comments, starting from the first which is two comments above this one:.
So your argument was well put together for roughly 2 paragraphs before it went off the rails, in my opinion. Respectful dialogue and education is the only way to move forward in a delicate and sensitive situation such as this, however you seem to have completely missed that this was the whole focus of the article and focused on the individual aspects that most enraged you. Yes, I happily eat meat from the supermarket without knowing where it came from.
This is the way I was raised, and it is the culture of the Western Society I grew up in. I completely agree with you that it is our responsibility to pay attention to where our food comes from, and not promote the mistreatment of animals. That in itself is exactly why find hypocrisy in your argument as it continues, as the Faroese treatment of the whales they hunt is highly respectful, more so than any other country who farms or eats meats, free range right up until the point it is killed, as are their sheep, their chickens, and all other domestic animals; not caged or mistreated during their lifetime, not abused with the exception of the 10 seconds it takes to end their life for putting food on the table.
Unfortunately, your argument then lost credibility when you attempted to claim that what you personally believe to be wrong is fact. It is not fact. That these hunts are wrong is your opinion — a fact is a thing that is known or proved to be true — it is information that can be used as evidence in a court of law. And that is precisely the problem with those who take up this campaign and are completely unwilling to have a respectful debate about the issue — completely unbending to consider that there is another side to this argument, and that there are many shades of grey involved.
On the whales being sentient beings argument we will have to agree to disagree. I, like the Faroese, believe that all life is equal. And it has been, for the most part, universally accepted throughout human society that we do not eat our own species. So killing whales for food is not that same as killing humans for food, and I find that argument to be a massive and imaginative stretch.
You then lost all credibility when you suggested the Faroese should kill themselves — as I said in my article, that type of hate speech is the plague of our society. They do not delight in the killing of whales, and they do not do this for entertainment. They do it for food, pure and simple. Your assertion that there is much waste is incorrect.
It is not uncommon to serve the entire animal so that nothing is wasted. Where-ever you got the information that the carcasses are dumped back in the ocean, you have been willfully mislead. Your assertion in your second comment that they do this for sport is completely false, and is nothing more than propaganda.
Tradition always adapts and evolves with the modern world around us; we now read books on e-readers, we now read newspapers online. So yes, the whale hunts are tradition, and they have evolved and adapted over centuries with modern technology in order to make the hunts more respectful, and more humane. Simply because my educated opinion is different from yours does not make it garbage. An argument which has value should have the strength to stand alone without the need to pull name calling and hate speech into it.
Yes, that does sound sustainable to me, and it has been scientifically proven to be sustainable. So no, I will not stop encouraging people to visit the Faroe Islands, because it is a truly stunning place, with a wonderful community of people. You have glimmers of educated arguments within your mass of response here, but you completely undermine yourself by bringing in false claims, propaganda, name-calling, and statements that contradict themselves.
And of course, attempting to yell your point down my throat, which I have zero respect for. You are not anonymous. Read it in a breath. At least in the virtual world! Your post is written in a culturally sensitive way, even though graphical photos are evocative. I find no issue with this. Thanks for reading Madhurima : Yes, there are definitely some interesting eating habits around the world! I think you can always have discussions in respectful and culturally sensitive ways as heated as the debates around the reality might be.
Hey there, this is an awesome read but I would like to defend my nations tradition abit, since most here are against it. Some points you have already mentioned. As you said, around the Faroe Island there are around a million long finned pilot whales and around two hundred thousand, short finned pilot whales.
If you take the country of the Faroe island, which is a community of 50k people, we kill around a year, which is less than 0. I mention this point explicity because, I see a lot people saying that the Faroe islands are either, hunting endangered whales or about to make them endangered.
Then it is the health risk, this is the only valid point why the Grind should end and almost every Faroese person know this, even if they eat it or not. For us, these are our Taliban. They come here to our country with hostile intends, they sabotage fishermen boats, break our laws, they destroy cars and worst of all they spread propaganda on the internet and they have a massive following and sent a hate mob our way.
This in my expierence has only had the opposite of the intended effect, the younger generation now is often very invested into this harvest, because we as a nation stand together. It is a shame, because the Sea Shephered has honestly ruined our trust in these communities that want our whaling to stop. Which is such a flawed arguement. Anyway, for my second last point why I support it.
Is because the people that say we should improve act like they come from perfect countries. It is abit pathetic, that an american or any other person for that matter should tell us where to improve as a nation and that they are the pinnacle of morality, which in actuality, they do way more harm to any sea life that we could ever do.
They destroy entire eco system with over fishing We do too, but.. We cannot compete with the level of destruction of these bigger countries and it is because of them that we have our contaminated meat which in all other respect is quite healthy.
Now for my last point, it is that I think our way of killing the whales is quite humane, the only reason why I believe it causes this outrage is because it is outside and everybody can see it, if you went into a slaughter house and brought it outside where every one could see it, it would have the very same response.
Those have been banned for several decades now! They are good tools, used by professional people that have gone through training to kill these whales. In we beleive that faroese population can find a different way to provide themselves food. Pilot whales must be protected, therefore we invite you to send a letter of protest to the faroese and danish governments in order to stop this cruel and brutal tradition.
Faroese claim this is a tradition. Stop the grindadrap! Male long-finned pilot whales have a lifespan of 35 to 45 years and can reach weights of 2,kg. Females, on the other hand, grow to be around 1,kg and can exceed 60 years of age. Pilot whales are pregnant for longer than humans — for around 12 to 16 months. The calf nurses anywhere from 18 to 44 months, according to NOAA Fisheries, which is responsible for the stewardship of ocean resources in the United States.
They typically live in multi-generational pods; pilots tend to stay with the pod they are born into for the entirety of their lives. Pods are close-knit and often play, hunt, travel, and rest together. The Faroe Islands is home to around 53, people. There are 18 islands in the archipelago and all but one are inhabited. The total land area in the Faroe Islands is square miles, while the total marine area is , square miles.
Whaling in the Faroe Islands is for non-commercial food purposes. However, there is no quota in place for the number of whales that are killed. The grind can happen at any time. These include mountain grazing sheep, coastal fishing for household use, and occasional catches of pilot whales and other small cetaceans.
Locals obtain meat and blubber from the grind which is distributed for free within local communities. Individuals who cannot participate for instance, due to illness are able to sign up to receive a portion. Whale meat is eaten all year round in the Faroes, according to Kate Sanderson, who is the Head of Representation for the Government of the Faroe Islands. This is especially important in a country whereby vitamins from the sun and vegetables are lacking, the website adds.
But the meat and blubber also contain environmental contaminants, including heavy metals like methylmercury and organochlorines like polychlorinated biphenyl and dioxin. These pollutants are typically higher in concentration in predators like pilot whales. This is because they eat multiple sources of food which also contain pollutants, leading to a compounding effect. The Faroese Food and Veterinary Authority released recommendations in suggesting that adults should not eat more than one meal of pilot whale meat and blubber a month.
Women who plan to have children should not eat blubber at all. Moreover, women who are planning to get pregnant within the next three months, who are pregnant, or who are breastfeeding, should not eat the whale meat, either, the report says. But young people in the archipelago are beginning to reject the concept of whales as food altogether.
The chief executive, Regin Jacobsen, told Faroese radio that the company had fielded complaints from customers around the world. Schandorff Vang, 63, a retired policeman, witnessed the massacre. He also questioned the white-dolphin hunt. Although the hunters are used to criticism, the reaction seems to have taken some by surprise.
Zacariasen said he was baffled by the debate. But they both agree that as long as the hunt is done correctly, all parts of the animal are eaten and the numbers are sustainable, then killing white-sided dolphins is fine. This article is more than 1 month old. Carcasses of white-sided dolphins lie on a beach after the slaughter of more than 1, of the animals in the Faroe Islands this week. Photograph: AP.
0コメント