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For centuries, communities throughout the Faroe Islands have gathered to kill pilot whales—which, despite their name, are actually large dolphins—in public hunts known as the grindadráp, otherwise called “the grind.”
The hunts occur whenever a pod is spotted close enough to shore to be driven into one of the island’s 23 bays designated for this event. But, most typically take place during the summer. After the kills, the dolphins are then butchered for their meat and blubber, which is distributed to local residents.
Animal rights groups and ocean conservation organizations have criticized these hunts for decades, including the marine conservation nonprofit Sea Shepherd, which has protested the grind since the 1980s.
“Our documentation shows hunts that are prolonged, chaotic and violent, where large family groups are driven into shallow water and killed under conditions that would be unacceptable for any other animal,” said Valentina Crast, who leads Sea Shepherd’s campaign against the grind.
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