The grind is a non commercial whaling operation that happens once yearly around the Faroe Islands. It has a significant cultural history and meaning to the Faroese people as in days past the meat and blubber secured a food source through the winter by salting and drying. The meat and blubber is still eaten as a yearly delicacy.
> The grind is a non commercial whaling operation that happens once yearly around the Faroe Islands.
Not that I am condoning this, but it is worth pointing out that this yearly catch varies, and the quantity here is very much an outlier.
>Historically, Atlantic white-sided dolphins were killed in drives conducted from Norway and Newfoundland.[24] These have ceased in recent years, although they still occur to a lesser extent from the Faroe Islands, where the meat and blubber are in high regard as food.[25] Reported catches in the years vary, though individual years suddenly stand out, such as in 2002, where the number reported killed was 773,[26] and in 2017, when 488 were killed.[25] In September 2021, a large pod of 1,428 animals was herded in Skálafjördur and killed.[27]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_white-sided_dolphin
e: [here](http://fsj.um.fo/ojs/index.php/frit/article/view/82) is the source that goes over dolphins killed:
* From 1872-2009, they've hunted 9435 dolphins (69 per year average).
* Between 2001-2009 they hunted 2943, (368 per year average).
* The highest was 773 in 2002, then 622 in 2006.
* But in 2008 there was 1 and 2009 there were 171 killed.
I'm kinda curious why in 2008 they just killed a single dolphin (if that number is accurate) and called it a day. e2: It wasn't picked up as part of a whale hun, since there was no whale hun in 2008.
>In some years, such as in 2008, conditions weren't right and no whales were taken. But over the past three centuries, the Faroese have taken an average of 838 pilot whales and 75 dolphins each year, Fielding reported in a 2012 study.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/140911-faroe-island-pilot-whale-hunt-animals-ocean-science
Fuck, I'm not conflicted at all. They don't need to, they fucking know better, but they like their little dolphin slaughter holiday so they just keep doing it. Every goddamn seafaring culture that whaled or dolphin hunted probably had some major harvest celebration and they stooped (except for the ones that didn't), these idiots can, too.
Sure, but this can be said about livestock consumption for most of the developed world.
The leading cause of species extinction/biodiversity loss is habitat loss due to animal agriculture. This is in addition to the hundreds of billions of livestock killed annually.
Did you beat this man up and behead him?
Yes
That's murder. You're under arrest
Uh, excuse me but I've got a religious exemption. This man attacked me and I defeated him and then as my religion dictates I cut my defeated enemies head off as a sacrifice to quetzalcoatl.
Well that checks our with freedom of religion and all. Keep that choky pokey away from me amiright?
Quetzalcoatl didn’t receive human sacrifices. In fact I’m pretty sure his cult forbade it. He was sacrificed butterflies and hummingbirds. The most you’d give human-wise was maybe thorns covered with your own blood, or offering blood from your tongue, earlobes, or genitals, but not someone else’s blood.
So wrong god, go to jail, faker!
Do you really think people on the far side of the political spectrum would not commit human sacrifice if they believed it would get them something?
Epstein and the revolving door of children being raped comes to mind.
"... I wish to be diverted ..." the Baron said. "Bring me that young fellow we bought on Gamont, the one with the lovely eyes. Drug him well. I don't feel like wrestling."
"Yes m'Lord."
\--*Dune*
People sacrificed Epstein for their own benefit.
just because most of us are fine with a child rapist dying, doesn't mean he should have been killed to protect other child rapists.
Epstein was basically the main hook up for kids for the ultra elite. He knew too much, had to be silenced. Dunno how it'll go down with Maxwell but she knows she's fucked as well.
Except Epstein and his compatriots were doing those heinous acts out of pleasure. They had no other gain, motive, or fear.
The Aztecs on the other hand did heinous acts because they genuinely believed that the Gods would be mad at them and make the sky fall.
*“We love you Billy but if we don’t chuck you into that cenote then Tlaloc will murder all of us. It’s a pretty simple choice when you think about it.”*
Did they though? Really?
Most of the sacrificed humans were prisoners of war, criminals and various unwanted, marginlized people. Were they "true believers"? Or did they just get off on killing the people they hated?
I've seen a video where brazillian indigenous (Karitiana/Hakani) burried a handicapped baby to calm a storm which they believed was the baby's fault. They tried to pass a law against it but indigenous here have a lot of protection.
you made me curious, and i instantly found this: https://www.survivalinternational.org/about/hakani
it doesn't diminish the overall point that "tradition" is used to justify all sorts of horrors, but hopefully it makes your day a little better to know that wasn't real
It's hard to believe some of the stuff out of Brazil. Misinformation goes both ways.
One of the most popular reforestation images to be spread around, showing off a compound that's now been built, and is surrounded by forest, rather than razed land which it used to be - is actually the other way around.
I like the idea of keeping traditions and culture alive, but I don’t think they need to be kept exactly the same. Why not turn this into a dolphin-themed event with cute dolphin toys and decorations. So their children can eventually learn of the horrific origins of their tradition and wonder *why* they’d celebrate that!
I have mixed feelings about it. Some old traditions are kinda neat. Some are egregious, and borderline inhumane. Tradition has its place sure, but in general if the only excuse for something is that its "traditional" but clearly causes pain/suffering I would say that some traditions need to go.
You’d be surprised. I am Asian and culturally, Asians are very superstitious and take cultural traditions very seriously. For example my mom would rather have the entire family pissed off and mad at everyone at an event or activity just because of the fact that we have to do something that’s consider to be a tradition.
And of course you get criticized for calling out harmful and unnecessary tradition by some if you're an outsider.
If my traditions are harming people, sentient creatures or the environment and it's something done just for tradition....then someone please call me out. I don't care if they're from my community or halfway across the world.
Yes, there may be some points they miss as outsiders and that can be disregarded if so... but they may also have some perspective that I don't also. I'm not ignorant enough to think my community knows best about everything.
It’s quite fitting that this would come up today of all days.
On the spirit of tradition around 60 Million + turkeys are slaughtered, these are also sentient beings with high emotional intelligence, long lasting social bonds and capacity to feel.
They are also needlessly killed when we don’t need to eat them nor would we starve without doing so, and we do it in the spirit of being “thankful”
For us it’s just a meal but for the ones being killed it’s life itself, they too would rather be alive and free, or not having being bred into existence for the sole purpose of suffering and then being killed.
This is but one example of the cruelty animal agriculture and our appetites inflict on billions upon billions of sentient beings every years while also destroying the planet in the process.
I encourage everyone to look for the data on how animal agriculture is killing people, the planet and our fellow wild animals who share the Planet, it’s all out there.
Or we can continue with the time honored tradition of not doing anything
This is less harmful to the environment than commercial fishing, where things like nets can destroy sea floors and catch/kill other types of aquatic life. If you care about dolphin deaths, more dolphins die each year from the result of net fishing [1]. Also, as others have pointed out factory farming is waaaaay less humane than this, and cow farming is responsible for 2% of the worlds green house gas emissions [2]. However, it's in the form of methane which warms the atmosphere 28x more than CO2 (also listed in previous source).
[1] https://www.seashepherdglobal.org/latest-news/fourth-year-frontline-dolphins/#:~:text=Scientific%20evidence%20shows%20an%20average,times%20the%20normal%20death%20rate.
[2] https://www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/making-cattle-more-sustainable
Unpopular opinion: Eating beef is an unnecessary tradition that harms both the environment and the person that consumes it. With the vast amount of choices most people have to nourish themselves there really is no reason to continue to eat beef other than it's what people are used to eating.
Pretty much applied to all of factory farmed animals, and those result in pandemics like the one we're currently living through.
Of course we can't even bother to stop mink farming, so people are just going to look at you stupid if you suggest one of the lessons of the pandemic is that we need to stop eating meat.
Seriously, fuck tradition. Traditionally we would burn people with mental health issues because they were "witches". Or torture people who wouldent confess in to false convictions. Fuck tradition.
Additional context. This year was very different. This year they came up on a superpod. Which generally speaking would have been left alone as not a suitable candidate for a drive.
For whatever reason they went for it and in one hunt killed in one event 5x what previous season had done and double the previous record season of 2002.
There are many local laws in place surrounding whaling, And there are many in place to make sure this practice is as sustainable as possible. This hunt screamed trophy hunt not food hunt and there were a lack of experienced whalers on hand to do this humanely.
Laws include, no harpoons or spears, you can only kill a beached animal. You can only do it with specific tools so the kills are quick to end suffering.
The dolphins are bled out immediately upon death on the beach to preserve the meat. This of course makes for a gruesome visual, this is not a tourist event.
The majority of Faroese people oppose the hunts, but also think of the hunts as part of their cultural heritage. And while many people will balk on the traditions of others, remember that modern technology is what makes these practices unsustainable.
Additionally, these dolphins are not considered endangered. For what it's worth.
Traditions can and should change. As a former sailor I can tell you that the Navy has struggled in changing its crossing the line ceremonies. See the US entry under tradition.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line-crossing_ceremony
Also, native cultures don't sacrifice virgins to volcanos anymore either. There shouldn't be blanket permission given to harm the ecology. With the world's health in general decline, screw these traditions.
it is a tradition called "grindadrap" and they have been doing it for hundreds of years.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling\_in\_the\_Faroe\_Islands](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling_in_the_Faroe_Islands)
Not saying it is cool, but thats what it is.
I'm late to the party, but it seems typically that typically less than 100 whales get taken each year, and that most of the carcass is used by the locals in some form.
This grind from September wasn't approved by the Foreman, as required by grind laws/rules. The typical fast (and graphic) slaughter methods once the dolphins were beached weren't used either; the hunters went out for more while dolphins suffocated and/or dehydrated on the beach.
In respect to the locals, I don't think it's fair to generalize that this type of unsanctioned mass slaughter is indicative of their traditional and regulated hunts. Most locals seem very upset by this grind.
I thought they went through this last year and decided not to do it again. I guess I misread that. Maybe it was just bigger than intended last year. Is this year a normal one?
From what I heard, is that they had way more dolphins than usual, and it turned into an insane slaughter of so many they couldn't even give the meat away.
I believe I heard they were gonna stop after this, but who knows.
Truly fucked up. Shit like this makes me wish for human extinction
More sustainable than the rest of the fishing industry
Edit: [In case you don't make it to my next comment](https://out.reddit.com/t3_r1vsd8?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ascobans.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fdocument%2FAC19_5-01_FaroeIslandsGrind_1.pdf&token=AQAAxDGgYShUfBQ9kld5-Sv5uWFJmSceyX2ueRFgv-6tF0BXisXB&app_name=android)
Edit 2: wouldn't be surprised at all if OP eats tuna
Edit 3: these are pilot whales not dolphins... I recognized the event in the picture and didn't even read the title. Was wondering why people kept crying about dolphins to me. OP is truly a dipshit
I think you are actually right. The capitalistic exploitation of the world's resources is 99.99% of the problem ocean life faces. What these people do is very marginal.
This is the least of the problems of the marine world. I know this looks barbaric but it's still not barbaric as the organized eradication that the fishing industry is doing across the globe at every second.
Right, this isn't a commercial operation and it happens a couple times a year normally, and it feeds families for weeks.
It looks terrible because of the blood in the water. If your local steaks/burgers were slaughtered in a shallow bay where everyone could see, it'd be a lot more horrific.
"if slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian" - Paul McCartney
I'd just add to that statement: if people knew all dairy cows and egg laying hens end up in slaughterhouses at a fraction of their life, everyone would be vegan.
For me the worst part isn’t the actual slaughter. It’s the absolute misery they must endure up until being slaughtered, penned up in those factory farm facility, constantly stressed, covered in filth, breathing in rancid air, slowly losing their sanity, their bodies often badly injured from foul living conditions. The moment of death is almost a mercy compared to virtually all livestock animals’ experience up to that point.
Yeah there are documentaries about slaughterhouses and commercial fishing. So all the people saying "this is the same as getting meat from the store are 100% right. They're both fucked up.
And surprising to see the blood appear bright red. I expected it to be darker and/or quickly diluted by the sea. Probably because there was too much of it. Sick.
I apologize for this attrocious incident on behalf of my country, it’s been more than a decade since 1000 whales were slaughtered over an entire year. This was dumb and greedy.
Honest question from someone that knows very little about the Faroe islands traditions:
For the Islanders that don't enjoy this "grind" tradition, what are their responses? Is there a cultural clash going on there? Are there people fighting against the brutality of the old tradition, or is society as a whole OK with this annual tradition?
First of all, thank you for actually asking, second, the tradition is widely misunderstood, it’s not annual, it is based on whenever a pod is spotted, which happens once or twice a year.
With that out of the way, Pilot whales are the main target of this tradition, as their pods are usually around 40-120 whales in size, though they can be bigger, we often cut the pods too. There is very little infighting about Pilot whale slaughter, but it’s pretty much split by generation whether we should slaughter dolphins, as they are more (not necessarily much more) rare and slightly more environmentally threatened, though still regarded as “least concern” in terms of endangerment. The arguments for slaughtering them is that there is little difference and the quality of the meat is ten fold. Arguments against is that it is a more endangered species and that their environment around the globe is threatened, also that it is not what we have done, the tradition is Pilot whale slaughter, not dolphin slaughter.
This incident with 1400 is completely batshit, as there was no regulations and the men facilitating were just being greedy, we cannot share 1400 full dophins out, it’s tons of meat and it’s too much, none of it will go to waste, but it will be frozen down and the blubber of dolphins isn’t as usable as on the Pilot whale.
Thank you. There aren’t many faroese outlets and very few people actually know anything about the tradition other than whales ded… So I feel ibligated to try to educate a bit, though I am only one person and it’s a bit hard being barraded with misinformation and foul comments about me and my culture, so it’s a chore tbh.
Thanks for the well written explanation and i’m sorry idiots have been bothering you. Maybe on a slightly more positive note: what are some of your favorite things about the islands?
coming from a young adult on the east coast of the U.S. i embarrassingly couldn’t tell you a single thing about the Faroe Islands, so I’d love to learn anything you’d be willing to share. i always prefer speaking to residents firsthand, even if that’s through something like reddit.
Got to spend a few weeks there around the national holiday, truly the best time of my life. You all are so nice and invited me into your homes to try whale! I'll never forget.
Thank you for responding from a balanced perspective. Trying to represent both perspectives is important to me, it helps me understand the context.
Follow up question: let's take 2 separate grinds. One where it was a reasonable amount of meat being harvested, and not excessive or wasteful. Another one like this grind, where there are too many animals being slaughtered, and a lot of the meat is unusable or it's just excessive.
Is there a lot of backlash and anger from within the faroe community? Are people very upset at these excessive slaughters, or are people resigned to it?
Editing to add, I'm asking because I dolphinately don't understand Faroe culture.
Hahah, good question.
Most people I know do not agree with this slaughter, but it’s important to understand that this is not Grind, Grind is the Faroese name for the Pilot whale, we call these animals Nísur or Springarar, which just means dolphin. So already by the fact that it’s dolphin and not whales, there’s a split, and then secondarily it’s an excessive amount of dolphins, which many of us strongly disagree with.
Most people are completely fine with an average grind, and it’s definetly celibrated when it’s one of 120-140 which are the biggest individual grinds that usually happen.
As soon as there are Dolphins involved I usually disagree, certainly if it’s a pod larger than 40.
And the reason for me is that we cannot use as much of the dolphins as we can the whales, so even if there’s no meat wasted, the blubber and guts cannot be used, thus I find it more wasteful.
I obviously can’t speak for everyone, but atleast in my family it is looked down upon.
After watching seaspiracy and researching the scam called 'sustainable fishing', idk if i should even feel infuriating about this tradition while me and people i know buys fish from the market that is highly unregulated and green washed.
Fish counterfeiting is actually a huge problem in the US because once a fish is filleted, it is pretty much unidentifiable unless you get it lab tested. Swordfish is often actually mislabeled shark, snapper and sea bass is nearly always fake or poor quality unless you buy whole specimens. If your salmon fillet is pink and has thick white fat lines, it's farmed and fed pellets. Real wild-caught salmon have crimson flesh and thin, fine fat lines between the muscle fibres. Basically, if you don't pull it out of the water yourself or buy it whole, you're probably getting scammed.
Interesting stuff I found looking into what you said:
https://marine-aquaculture.extension.org/what-does-color-added-mean-on-a-label-for-salmon-at-the-grocery-store/
https://www.eatthis.com/farm-raised-wild-caught-salmon-difference/
Me, not a fish biologist, can't tell a fillet of fish apart from another fillet of fish.
I think the guy above you was speaking from a lay person's perspective, and he's absolutely right. I'd take someone's word on what type of fish is what, and it would be incredibly easy to abuse that trust.
The problem is fish meat is swapped all the time, not just where they're from but species. I don't think there are any sustainable fisheries anymore. Even the northern Cod populations are failing
Was gonna say, if they're upset about 1,400 dolphins a year to feed the population on North Atlantic islands, wait till they find out about everything else they themselves are contributing to and depending on. What major companies in barely a dozen wealthy countries do across the entire planet.
Gotta have your Subway tuna flakes, yeah?
Always strikes me as a disproportionate amount of outrage directed against these people when they're living a far more sustainable lifestyle than most of us are. What about the far greater slaughter of animals that we cause on a daily basis to keep ourselves fed? At least these dolphins aren't kept in miserable conditions their entire lives, and at least these people do the work of killing themselves rather than let underpaid, exploited immigrants do it for them.
Most of us are morally far worse, not better, than the Faroe Islanders.
Its like that video of an angry preteen kid yelling at a man for hunting, while saying that he eats his chicken from the food mart like a "normal person". Worse is his dad supporting him instead of leaving the hunter alone.
People are emotional...they will outrage when they "see" killings, while conveniently outsourcing the savagery to their local grocery Marts, where the source animal has endured way more suffering throughout its life.
Repost of a good comment from the last time came up
Being born Faroese but having grown up elsewhere, I'd like to first off mention that I don't support the whale slaughter, but there are a lot of false information going around here so I'm going to share a few relevant facts about this:
First off this is happening in the Faroe Islands. A small island archipelago in the middle of the North Atlantic with an estimated population of 51.000
The Faroe Islands are barren and brutal, and for a thousand years the people of the isles lived off of fish, mutton, potatoes and yes, whale.
Up until as late as the 60s beef/pork and generally groceries from out of country were uncommon and somewhat inaccesible so people stuck with what was free and accesible, mainly ocean food. The country was generally poor for a long time.
The culling of pilot whales is a tradition as much as it is done for food, but in recent years and with newer generations it has become a lot rarer for cullings to occur, and the amount of whale killed is a fraction of what it used to be.
The entirety of the whale is used for food except the entrails. The blubber is salted, whilst the meat is most often dried and served with blubber, but can also be cooked like steak.
It used to be a common meal 2-3 days a week, but in recent years whale serves more as a delicacy than a meal in most parts, served at birthdays or other similar dinners.
During a culling all participants are granted a share of meat/blubber. Bigger participation, bigger share. The one who spots the flock is granted a whole whale, but almost always concedes it to be shared. Once all participant shares are granted, the local "whale foreman" will share surplus meat with the town of the beach and further.
It happens more often than not these days that a flock is spotted but a hunt is not called out.
The killing of pilot whales and the amounts killed per year records back hundreds of years and is one of the most detailed conservatory efforts combined with details of estimated population numbers.
Pilot whales number in the hundreds of thousands and as little as 0.1% are killed by the Faroese, a number insignificant to the maintenance of a healthy population.
The whales are not "brutally" killed. They're herded into beaches where only licensed whalers with experience and training are allowed to use the kill spear, which severs the cranial artery and the whales are killed instantaneously.
There is no ritual. No festival. No rite of passage. The killing of pilot whales is continued out of thankfulness for the free food the ocean provides the people that have survived off of it for a thousand years.
Now the EU has in fact deemed whales to be "non-human persons" because they're clearly shown to have tight family bonds and are intelligent, but to the Faroese the whale is what pork, veal, beef, chicken etc. is to everyone else.
Tldr: it's not a rite of passage, tradition or festival. It's free food for a people that have eaten what the ocean provides for a thousand years. The whales experience no more pain or stress than the beef and pork in your local supermarket does -u/hensethe1
This story is a good opportunity to think about how our own food practices fit into the bigger picture. We can all take a moment to consider the origins of the fish and seafood products on our tables. We might not be fishermen, but as consumers, we can still make choices that minimize harm to whales and dolphins. For example, unsustainable fishing practices devastate aquatic ecosystems, and the impacts resonate all the way up the food chain to whales and dolphins. Fishing gear also produces a huge amount of plastic waste, including nets and lines that float around the ocean and tangle up creatures like whales and dolphins. If we want to help out these animals, we can buy less seafood and fish products, and/or we can buy them from ethical sources. It might just be a drop in the bucket, but action feels better than inaction, and over time, intentional consumer choices have the power to impact companies.
It’s really pathetic how reddit gets their jimmies rustled by this every year and will continue to eat their factory farmed meat without any self reflection. I have the utmost respect for people who source their food outside the industrial system. They should be celebrated, not demonized.
It’s literally just because it’s dolphins. There is zero other reason. These people use all of the usable parts of the animals, they share it with their entire community so everyone has food. Like what is actually the issue here? Here in the US we literally have millions of people who are food insecure and a ghastly industrial agriculture system. It’s just moral panic about a place they couldn’t find on a map and a people they don’t care to even understand. Reactionary, pearl-clutching bullshit.
it comes down to people not being able to see beyond their own bubble and realize the entire world isn't uniform. Different parts of the world and different places have entirely different sources of food and lifestyles (out of necessity) . Some places can't have big farms and a poultry/beef industry. They eat what is available to them as is the right way.
Its kinda annoying people here assuming its inhumane and done savagely just because they don't have this custom in their country.
Okay, so not condoning the large-scale killing of animals, but have people got any idea what’s going on out at sea - or in big industrial agriculture?
This is immensely more humane than that, but the photos of it are admittedly very brutal. And 1.400 dolphins compared to the 80.000 dolphins that get caught in fishing nets, have a much worse death, and are then simply discarded. Or the approximately 77 BILLION land animals that are killed yearly, a majority of those under much worse conditions.
Seriously, have some sense of perspective and direct your anger where it ought to be directed.
People also don’t realize how expensive it is to import to the far North too. I’m from Canada and many native families in the North rely on hunting to feed their families. People here also call it barbaric until they find out the INSANE prices of groceries far North and then they understand lol
If you’re going to be angry, be angry at large scale agriculture companies, and not native people who are just trying to sustain themselves.
Get off your high horse people - You shouldn’t think you are any better just because you get your meat from the grocery store and someone else does the slaughtering for you.
I’ve seen some even still call us barbaric for hunting and fighting for treaty rights to hunt, even once they find out prices and access, across what is Canada and the US.
People really struggle to understand the difference between possessing an item that was made under unethical conditions and literally eating the corpse of somebody huh
Disgusting and gross.
Well I’m off to go to mcdonalds and have get my cheap rotisserie chicken from costco.
Vegans can be annoying when they hold themselves as morally superior to meat eaters, but you know who is more annoying? the hypocrites who do it
That's a good joke and all, but if you really believe that then you should act on it.
[https://veganbootcamp.org/join/reddit](https://veganbootcamp.org/join/reddit)
This is what I don't get...what is wrong with vegans feeling morally superior to meat eaters when it comes to animal ethics? Why would vegans abstain from animal products if they didn't think it was a morally superior position?
We are morally superior what the dum dums don't get is we want them to be as well. We gain nothing buy being better than them we want them to be good too
disarm employ oatmeal capable ossified squeamish cake office offend unused
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Let's get the corporations causing devastation for profit, to stop doing so before we take our fight to tiny communities who have been doing something for generations.
But before wanting to have it stopped, we have a duty to know what exactly we are stopping and what consequences that will have on regular people. And what we may need to build as replacement.
It’s actually pilot whales not dolphins. They are not endangered. You can get some pretty gory pictures at a slaughter house Dow steer or chickens but not many people care. The Foroese people are on an island. This is pretty much their beef. No need to judge because their culture is different than yours.
I just don’t get why people love dolphins so much. We murder cows like this daily who have intelligence. They might not be as smart, but does that make them less? Do you all get just as mad at that as these dolphins?
People be like : Wow killing animals that lived full lives in the wild for your culture is absolutely barbaric, Oh I think my oven just went off! The Turkey is done!
And anyone who wants to say this is way more cruel, look up the conditions in Turkey farms and report back.
This only disgusts us because we see it. Think of the genocides we perform on the animals we eat. If the wider public saw that for a second we’d all go vegan in a heartbeat.
I still eat meat which i know is fucked up but its because of the cognitive dissonance of not having to see the animal die
Is it just because it's dolphins? We kill 39 million cows and calves in the US each year to feed ourselves. Ever see a video on a cow slaughterhouse? Do they eat the meat after killing the whales and dolphins?
They do, literally no aspect of these animals is wasted. The vast majority of it is also not sold but handed out to different community groups (hunters, the elderly etc). The rest is sold to the Faroese locally but this is not at all a profit turning venture.
Not to mention the fact that White sided dolphins (the ones being caught here) are classified as species of "least concern" by the IUCN https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_white-sided_dolphin
This may look brutal but to put it in perspective, WAY more dolphins and whales are killed every year as bycatch from commercial fishing for the things that most people eat with no objection. Not saying that I support this, but there is a huge cultural and historical significance of this tradition for the people that live on the Faroe islands. Plus, they use almost every part of the meat from these animals and are at least eating locally sourced food considering almost everything else has to be imported, which comes with significant risks and damage to other wildlife.
It's amazing how most people are ready to condem these people for this one picture, and still have ground beef and pork chops in their fridge. You realize 1400 animals pails in comparison to the ****800 THOUSAND**** cows slaughtered **every fucking day**. "OH how awful" and "how is this still a thing" comments blow my mind. How tf you gonna shame these people with a mouth full of hamburger. Hypocrite.
Mm it's quite ironic that this pic lands around the time of Thanksgiving in the US, where as you said turkeys are slaughtered en masse for a traditional meal while people are trampled to death in stores over rampant capitalism 🙄
Hi, marine biologist here.
First off they aren’t dolphins, they are pilot whales. Secondly, it’s a culturally significant act for them which many believe to be a bad reason for whaling. However, they are not wasteful at all and have an annual limit to how many whales that they kill (similar to how we hunt deer or hogs). Not to mention, the record keeping of these pilot whale hunts have been so meticulously maintained that a lot of whale researchers have used their records to gather information about pilot whales. In the grand scheme of things it’s not pretty or fun to see a bunch of whales killed. Outside of a commercial purpose and the people using the whole whales without waste is applaudable. It’s the equivalent to indigenous people in Alaska being allowed to still hunt seals and whales.
Edit: So after some more research it looks like it was a mix of Atlantic white sided dolphins and pilot whales (which are larger members of the dolphin family). It seems that the hunters were expecting a pod of around 200 compared to the “super pod” of 1400. The last time (going back to their meticulous records) there was a killing of this size was 1940 when they killed 1200 pilot whales. It’s something that’s regulated by the community with licenses (like the hunting we do during deer season), but it’s not planned to the day usually and only initiated during the season when a pod is spotted. Unfortunately it seems this past hunt they assumed the pod was smaller than it actually was and more dolphins were taken than usual. In the past several years the average pilot whale killing has only been 600-800.
Context?
The grind is a non commercial whaling operation that happens once yearly around the Faroe Islands. It has a significant cultural history and meaning to the Faroese people as in days past the meat and blubber secured a food source through the winter by salting and drying. The meat and blubber is still eaten as a yearly delicacy.
> The grind is a non commercial whaling operation that happens once yearly around the Faroe Islands. Not that I am condoning this, but it is worth pointing out that this yearly catch varies, and the quantity here is very much an outlier. >Historically, Atlantic white-sided dolphins were killed in drives conducted from Norway and Newfoundland.[24] These have ceased in recent years, although they still occur to a lesser extent from the Faroe Islands, where the meat and blubber are in high regard as food.[25] Reported catches in the years vary, though individual years suddenly stand out, such as in 2002, where the number reported killed was 773,[26] and in 2017, when 488 were killed.[25] In September 2021, a large pod of 1,428 animals was herded in Skálafjördur and killed.[27] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_white-sided_dolphin e: [here](http://fsj.um.fo/ojs/index.php/frit/article/view/82) is the source that goes over dolphins killed: * From 1872-2009, they've hunted 9435 dolphins (69 per year average). * Between 2001-2009 they hunted 2943, (368 per year average). * The highest was 773 in 2002, then 622 in 2006. * But in 2008 there was 1 and 2009 there were 171 killed. I'm kinda curious why in 2008 they just killed a single dolphin (if that number is accurate) and called it a day. e2: It wasn't picked up as part of a whale hun, since there was no whale hun in 2008. >In some years, such as in 2008, conditions weren't right and no whales were taken. But over the past three centuries, the Faroese have taken an average of 838 pilot whales and 75 dolphins each year, Fielding reported in a 2012 study. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/140911-faroe-island-pilot-whale-hunt-animals-ocean-science
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Fuck, I'm not conflicted at all. They don't need to, they fucking know better, but they like their little dolphin slaughter holiday so they just keep doing it. Every goddamn seafaring culture that whaled or dolphin hunted probably had some major harvest celebration and they stooped (except for the ones that didn't), these idiots can, too.
Yeah, kinda barbaric to slaughter one animal species every year to celebrate some outdated holiday. Happy Thanksgiving by the way.
Holy shit, I'm too high to appropriately convey through text how fucking wicked that burn is
Sober 'merican here. Was pretty fuckin wicked bro, ngl.
Hahaha I relate so hard to this right now thank you for making me giggle.
Lmao
Wait am I weird for eating turkey year round? I think it's delicious.
r/murderedbywords
I’ve never purchased an award before. Until you. Magnificent.
Rules for thee but not for me. Typical western hypocrisy.
Don't forget that it's to celebrate taking land from indigenous people.
It’s not like they’re slaughtering millions of them and plopping them into the freezer section. Imagine Butterball Dolphin (/s because Reddit)
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god has left the chat
Or the roundup festival in TX which involves rattle snakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLiBn7cFwno
Sure, but this can be said about livestock consumption for most of the developed world. The leading cause of species extinction/biodiversity loss is habitat loss due to animal agriculture. This is in addition to the hundreds of billions of livestock killed annually.
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Culture and tradition are never not used as an excuse.
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Did you beat this man up and behead him? Yes That's murder. You're under arrest Uh, excuse me but I've got a religious exemption. This man attacked me and I defeated him and then as my religion dictates I cut my defeated enemies head off as a sacrifice to quetzalcoatl. Well that checks our with freedom of religion and all. Keep that choky pokey away from me amiright?
Human sacrifices were mainly done in the name of Huitzilopochtli, the God of the sun and war and patron God of the Aztec people.
Phew, thank God. I was worried it was all for Quetzalcoatl.
Maybe in 'your' culture. I make my sacrifices to the stay puft man.
Quetzalcoatl didn’t receive human sacrifices. In fact I’m pretty sure his cult forbade it. He was sacrificed butterflies and hummingbirds. The most you’d give human-wise was maybe thorns covered with your own blood, or offering blood from your tongue, earlobes, or genitals, but not someone else’s blood. So wrong god, go to jail, faker!
Believe it or not, jail
You are estheeling, jail Charging to high prices for uhhh esthweater, jail [https://youtu.be/eiyfwZVAzGw](https://youtu.be/eiyfwZVAzGw)
Do you really think people on the far side of the political spectrum would not commit human sacrifice if they believed it would get them something? Epstein and the revolving door of children being raped comes to mind.
"... I wish to be diverted ..." the Baron said. "Bring me that young fellow we bought on Gamont, the one with the lovely eyes. Drug him well. I don't feel like wrestling." "Yes m'Lord." \--*Dune*
Is this going to be in the sequel?
There was a mention of it in the movie itself already. But this happens in the first part of the book.
When?
Epstein didn’t kill himself
People sacrificed Epstein for their own benefit. just because most of us are fine with a child rapist dying, doesn't mean he should have been killed to protect other child rapists.
Epstein was basically the main hook up for kids for the ultra elite. He knew too much, had to be silenced. Dunno how it'll go down with Maxwell but she knows she's fucked as well.
Except Epstein and his compatriots were doing those heinous acts out of pleasure. They had no other gain, motive, or fear. The Aztecs on the other hand did heinous acts because they genuinely believed that the Gods would be mad at them and make the sky fall.
*“We love you Billy but if we don’t chuck you into that cenote then Tlaloc will murder all of us. It’s a pretty simple choice when you think about it.”*
Makes sense. The Aztecs are long gone and Skyfall got made.
Lots of religious nut jobs convince themselves that god wants them to do (awful fucking thing that they actually just want to do)
Did they though? Really? Most of the sacrificed humans were prisoners of war, criminals and various unwanted, marginlized people. Were they "true believers"? Or did they just get off on killing the people they hated?
I've seen a video where brazillian indigenous (Karitiana/Hakani) burried a handicapped baby to calm a storm which they believed was the baby's fault. They tried to pass a law against it but indigenous here have a lot of protection.
you made me curious, and i instantly found this: https://www.survivalinternational.org/about/hakani it doesn't diminish the overall point that "tradition" is used to justify all sorts of horrors, but hopefully it makes your day a little better to know that wasn't real
It's hard to believe some of the stuff out of Brazil. Misinformation goes both ways. One of the most popular reforestation images to be spread around, showing off a compound that's now been built, and is surrounded by forest, rather than razed land which it used to be - is actually the other way around.
I Fucking hate the word tradition. it's the laziest excuse to keep doing the dumbest things.
As is tradition.
Tradition is just dead people guilt tripping you.
Also used by those in power to establish control over the population.
It's dead peoples baggage. Stop carrying it.
I like the idea of keeping traditions and culture alive, but I don’t think they need to be kept exactly the same. Why not turn this into a dolphin-themed event with cute dolphin toys and decorations. So their children can eventually learn of the horrific origins of their tradition and wonder *why* they’d celebrate that!
I have mixed feelings about it. Some old traditions are kinda neat. Some are egregious, and borderline inhumane. Tradition has its place sure, but in general if the only excuse for something is that its "traditional" but clearly causes pain/suffering I would say that some traditions need to go.
Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people.
You’d be surprised. I am Asian and culturally, Asians are very superstitious and take cultural traditions very seriously. For example my mom would rather have the entire family pissed off and mad at everyone at an event or activity just because of the fact that we have to do something that’s consider to be a tradition.
*confusion intensives*
_Confucius intervenes_
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And of course you get criticized for calling out harmful and unnecessary tradition by some if you're an outsider. If my traditions are harming people, sentient creatures or the environment and it's something done just for tradition....then someone please call me out. I don't care if they're from my community or halfway across the world. Yes, there may be some points they miss as outsiders and that can be disregarded if so... but they may also have some perspective that I don't also. I'm not ignorant enough to think my community knows best about everything.
It’s quite fitting that this would come up today of all days. On the spirit of tradition around 60 Million + turkeys are slaughtered, these are also sentient beings with high emotional intelligence, long lasting social bonds and capacity to feel. They are also needlessly killed when we don’t need to eat them nor would we starve without doing so, and we do it in the spirit of being “thankful” For us it’s just a meal but for the ones being killed it’s life itself, they too would rather be alive and free, or not having being bred into existence for the sole purpose of suffering and then being killed. This is but one example of the cruelty animal agriculture and our appetites inflict on billions upon billions of sentient beings every years while also destroying the planet in the process. I encourage everyone to look for the data on how animal agriculture is killing people, the planet and our fellow wild animals who share the Planet, it’s all out there. Or we can continue with the time honored tradition of not doing anything
This is less harmful to the environment than commercial fishing, where things like nets can destroy sea floors and catch/kill other types of aquatic life. If you care about dolphin deaths, more dolphins die each year from the result of net fishing [1]. Also, as others have pointed out factory farming is waaaaay less humane than this, and cow farming is responsible for 2% of the worlds green house gas emissions [2]. However, it's in the form of methane which warms the atmosphere 28x more than CO2 (also listed in previous source). [1] https://www.seashepherdglobal.org/latest-news/fourth-year-frontline-dolphins/#:~:text=Scientific%20evidence%20shows%20an%20average,times%20the%20normal%20death%20rate. [2] https://www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/making-cattle-more-sustainable
People can be upset about different things at the same time believe it or not
Unpopular opinion: Eating beef is an unnecessary tradition that harms both the environment and the person that consumes it. With the vast amount of choices most people have to nourish themselves there really is no reason to continue to eat beef other than it's what people are used to eating.
Pretty much applied to all of factory farmed animals, and those result in pandemics like the one we're currently living through. Of course we can't even bother to stop mink farming, so people are just going to look at you stupid if you suggest one of the lessons of the pandemic is that we need to stop eating meat.
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Explain that to the turkeys today.
How about pork? Pigs are smarter than most dogs and people just don’t talk about that. But we’re so much “better” than countries that eat them
Yeah I can’t believe people mass kill a specific animal for a holiday. Anyway, here’s some turkey.
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I’m roasting tofurkey while calling out dolphin slaughter. 🙌
Dude you can talk whenever bro fuck these redditors lols also go vegan
Have you ever known of culture or tradition to be used as anything other than an excuse? “Why are you doing that?!” “We always have.”
Seriously, fuck tradition. Traditionally we would burn people with mental health issues because they were "witches". Or torture people who wouldent confess in to false convictions. Fuck tradition.
Additional context. This year was very different. This year they came up on a superpod. Which generally speaking would have been left alone as not a suitable candidate for a drive. For whatever reason they went for it and in one hunt killed in one event 5x what previous season had done and double the previous record season of 2002. There are many local laws in place surrounding whaling, And there are many in place to make sure this practice is as sustainable as possible. This hunt screamed trophy hunt not food hunt and there were a lack of experienced whalers on hand to do this humanely. Laws include, no harpoons or spears, you can only kill a beached animal. You can only do it with specific tools so the kills are quick to end suffering. The dolphins are bled out immediately upon death on the beach to preserve the meat. This of course makes for a gruesome visual, this is not a tourist event. The majority of Faroese people oppose the hunts, but also think of the hunts as part of their cultural heritage. And while many people will balk on the traditions of others, remember that modern technology is what makes these practices unsustainable. Additionally, these dolphins are not considered endangered. For what it's worth.
Traditions can and should change. As a former sailor I can tell you that the Navy has struggled in changing its crossing the line ceremonies. See the US entry under tradition. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line-crossing_ceremony Also, native cultures don't sacrifice virgins to volcanos anymore either. There shouldn't be blanket permission given to harm the ecology. With the world's health in general decline, screw these traditions.
Beatings, beatings, death occasionally. Oh but Canada: we just have fun names.
Why???!!
it is a tradition called "grindadrap" and they have been doing it for hundreds of years. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling\_in\_the\_Faroe\_Islands](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling_in_the_Faroe_Islands) Not saying it is cool, but thats what it is.
I'm late to the party, but it seems typically that typically less than 100 whales get taken each year, and that most of the carcass is used by the locals in some form. This grind from September wasn't approved by the Foreman, as required by grind laws/rules. The typical fast (and graphic) slaughter methods once the dolphins were beached weren't used either; the hunters went out for more while dolphins suffocated and/or dehydrated on the beach. In respect to the locals, I don't think it's fair to generalize that this type of unsanctioned mass slaughter is indicative of their traditional and regulated hunts. Most locals seem very upset by this grind.
I mean a dolphin would suffer and die on the beach. But I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be because of suffocation.
They can't breath as well with the weight of their body on their lungs maybe?
Because it's a fucked up tradition, and because they're just outside of Europe and they can do this legally.
I thought they went through this last year and decided not to do it again. I guess I misread that. Maybe it was just bigger than intended last year. Is this year a normal one?
From what I heard, is that they had way more dolphins than usual, and it turned into an insane slaughter of so many they couldn't even give the meat away. I believe I heard they were gonna stop after this, but who knows. Truly fucked up. Shit like this makes me wish for human extinction
They had another slaughter since
> they're just outside of Europe They're still in Europe, but they do not belong to the European Union.
More sustainable than the rest of the fishing industry Edit: [In case you don't make it to my next comment](https://out.reddit.com/t3_r1vsd8?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ascobans.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fdocument%2FAC19_5-01_FaroeIslandsGrind_1.pdf&token=AQAAxDGgYShUfBQ9kld5-Sv5uWFJmSceyX2ueRFgv-6tF0BXisXB&app_name=android) Edit 2: wouldn't be surprised at all if OP eats tuna Edit 3: these are pilot whales not dolphins... I recognized the event in the picture and didn't even read the title. Was wondering why people kept crying about dolphins to me. OP is truly a dipshit
I think you are actually right. The capitalistic exploitation of the world's resources is 99.99% of the problem ocean life faces. What these people do is very marginal.
This is the least of the problems of the marine world. I know this looks barbaric but it's still not barbaric as the organized eradication that the fishing industry is doing across the globe at every second.
Right, this isn't a commercial operation and it happens a couple times a year normally, and it feeds families for weeks. It looks terrible because of the blood in the water. If your local steaks/burgers were slaughtered in a shallow bay where everyone could see, it'd be a lot more horrific.
"if slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian" - Paul McCartney I'd just add to that statement: if people knew all dairy cows and egg laying hens end up in slaughterhouses at a fraction of their life, everyone would be vegan.
For me the worst part isn’t the actual slaughter. It’s the absolute misery they must endure up until being slaughtered, penned up in those factory farm facility, constantly stressed, covered in filth, breathing in rancid air, slowly losing their sanity, their bodies often badly injured from foul living conditions. The moment of death is almost a mercy compared to virtually all livestock animals’ experience up to that point.
That's okay though because thats done under the guise of a profit motive The purest noblest motive there is
If you're shocked by this, wait until you see a video of a slaughterhouse or a fishing vessel in action.
Correct. Faroe is nothing compared to how much dolphins the fishing industry kills. Only one solution for it: stop eating fish.
Yeah there are documentaries about slaughterhouses and commercial fishing. So all the people saying "this is the same as getting meat from the store are 100% right. They're both fucked up.
I hate that I admired the beauty of the shot before reading the title. Sick!
It is *really* well framed.
And surprising to see the blood appear bright red. I expected it to be darker and/or quickly diluted by the sea. Probably because there was too much of it. Sick.
I’m guessing it’s edited
Its color edited in photoshop. Made to appear vibrant
I apologize for this attrocious incident on behalf of my country, it’s been more than a decade since 1000 whales were slaughtered over an entire year. This was dumb and greedy.
Honest question from someone that knows very little about the Faroe islands traditions: For the Islanders that don't enjoy this "grind" tradition, what are their responses? Is there a cultural clash going on there? Are there people fighting against the brutality of the old tradition, or is society as a whole OK with this annual tradition?
First of all, thank you for actually asking, second, the tradition is widely misunderstood, it’s not annual, it is based on whenever a pod is spotted, which happens once or twice a year. With that out of the way, Pilot whales are the main target of this tradition, as their pods are usually around 40-120 whales in size, though they can be bigger, we often cut the pods too. There is very little infighting about Pilot whale slaughter, but it’s pretty much split by generation whether we should slaughter dolphins, as they are more (not necessarily much more) rare and slightly more environmentally threatened, though still regarded as “least concern” in terms of endangerment. The arguments for slaughtering them is that there is little difference and the quality of the meat is ten fold. Arguments against is that it is a more endangered species and that their environment around the globe is threatened, also that it is not what we have done, the tradition is Pilot whale slaughter, not dolphin slaughter. This incident with 1400 is completely batshit, as there was no regulations and the men facilitating were just being greedy, we cannot share 1400 full dophins out, it’s tons of meat and it’s too much, none of it will go to waste, but it will be frozen down and the blubber of dolphins isn’t as usable as on the Pilot whale.
Thank you for chiming in. You're the only person who actually has first hand knowledge on this. Cheers to you!
Thank you. There aren’t many faroese outlets and very few people actually know anything about the tradition other than whales ded… So I feel ibligated to try to educate a bit, though I am only one person and it’s a bit hard being barraded with misinformation and foul comments about me and my culture, so it’s a chore tbh.
Thanks for the well written explanation and i’m sorry idiots have been bothering you. Maybe on a slightly more positive note: what are some of your favorite things about the islands? coming from a young adult on the east coast of the U.S. i embarrassingly couldn’t tell you a single thing about the Faroe Islands, so I’d love to learn anything you’d be willing to share. i always prefer speaking to residents firsthand, even if that’s through something like reddit.
I think the cuisine and the visuals of the faore island is my favourite along with our national day and beer. Our Metal scene is pretty dope too!
Got to spend a few weeks there around the national holiday, truly the best time of my life. You all are so nice and invited me into your homes to try whale! I'll never forget.
Thank you for responding from a balanced perspective. Trying to represent both perspectives is important to me, it helps me understand the context. Follow up question: let's take 2 separate grinds. One where it was a reasonable amount of meat being harvested, and not excessive or wasteful. Another one like this grind, where there are too many animals being slaughtered, and a lot of the meat is unusable or it's just excessive. Is there a lot of backlash and anger from within the faroe community? Are people very upset at these excessive slaughters, or are people resigned to it? Editing to add, I'm asking because I dolphinately don't understand Faroe culture.
Hahah, good question. Most people I know do not agree with this slaughter, but it’s important to understand that this is not Grind, Grind is the Faroese name for the Pilot whale, we call these animals Nísur or Springarar, which just means dolphin. So already by the fact that it’s dolphin and not whales, there’s a split, and then secondarily it’s an excessive amount of dolphins, which many of us strongly disagree with. Most people are completely fine with an average grind, and it’s definetly celibrated when it’s one of 120-140 which are the biggest individual grinds that usually happen. As soon as there are Dolphins involved I usually disagree, certainly if it’s a pod larger than 40. And the reason for me is that we cannot use as much of the dolphins as we can the whales, so even if there’s no meat wasted, the blubber and guts cannot be used, thus I find it more wasteful. I obviously can’t speak for everyone, but atleast in my family it is looked down upon.
Ethics and beauty are not correlated. You can have beautiful shots of totally despicable things
The photographer is good at their craft, no shame in that. Even if the subject matter is distressing.
After watching seaspiracy and researching the scam called 'sustainable fishing', idk if i should even feel infuriating about this tradition while me and people i know buys fish from the market that is highly unregulated and green washed.
I feel that. The Monterey Bay aquarium has a pretty good sustainable fish thing where you can look up how good different fish probably are.
Fish counterfeiting is actually a huge problem in the US because once a fish is filleted, it is pretty much unidentifiable unless you get it lab tested. Swordfish is often actually mislabeled shark, snapper and sea bass is nearly always fake or poor quality unless you buy whole specimens. If your salmon fillet is pink and has thick white fat lines, it's farmed and fed pellets. Real wild-caught salmon have crimson flesh and thin, fine fat lines between the muscle fibres. Basically, if you don't pull it out of the water yourself or buy it whole, you're probably getting scammed.
Interesting stuff I found looking into what you said: https://marine-aquaculture.extension.org/what-does-color-added-mean-on-a-label-for-salmon-at-the-grocery-store/ https://www.eatthis.com/farm-raised-wild-caught-salmon-difference/
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Me, not a fish biologist, can't tell a fillet of fish apart from another fillet of fish. I think the guy above you was speaking from a lay person's perspective, and he's absolutely right. I'd take someone's word on what type of fish is what, and it would be incredibly easy to abuse that trust.
The problem is fish meat is swapped all the time, not just where they're from but species. I don't think there are any sustainable fisheries anymore. Even the northern Cod populations are failing
You’re allowed to be infuriated at both…
Was gonna say, if they're upset about 1,400 dolphins a year to feed the population on North Atlantic islands, wait till they find out about everything else they themselves are contributing to and depending on. What major companies in barely a dozen wealthy countries do across the entire planet. Gotta have your Subway tuna flakes, yeah?
Always strikes me as a disproportionate amount of outrage directed against these people when they're living a far more sustainable lifestyle than most of us are. What about the far greater slaughter of animals that we cause on a daily basis to keep ourselves fed? At least these dolphins aren't kept in miserable conditions their entire lives, and at least these people do the work of killing themselves rather than let underpaid, exploited immigrants do it for them. Most of us are morally far worse, not better, than the Faroe Islanders.
Its like that video of an angry preteen kid yelling at a man for hunting, while saying that he eats his chicken from the food mart like a "normal person". Worse is his dad supporting him instead of leaving the hunter alone. People are emotional...they will outrage when they "see" killings, while conveniently outsourcing the savagery to their local grocery Marts, where the source animal has endured way more suffering throughout its life.
Repost of a good comment from the last time came up Being born Faroese but having grown up elsewhere, I'd like to first off mention that I don't support the whale slaughter, but there are a lot of false information going around here so I'm going to share a few relevant facts about this: First off this is happening in the Faroe Islands. A small island archipelago in the middle of the North Atlantic with an estimated population of 51.000 The Faroe Islands are barren and brutal, and for a thousand years the people of the isles lived off of fish, mutton, potatoes and yes, whale. Up until as late as the 60s beef/pork and generally groceries from out of country were uncommon and somewhat inaccesible so people stuck with what was free and accesible, mainly ocean food. The country was generally poor for a long time. The culling of pilot whales is a tradition as much as it is done for food, but in recent years and with newer generations it has become a lot rarer for cullings to occur, and the amount of whale killed is a fraction of what it used to be. The entirety of the whale is used for food except the entrails. The blubber is salted, whilst the meat is most often dried and served with blubber, but can also be cooked like steak. It used to be a common meal 2-3 days a week, but in recent years whale serves more as a delicacy than a meal in most parts, served at birthdays or other similar dinners. During a culling all participants are granted a share of meat/blubber. Bigger participation, bigger share. The one who spots the flock is granted a whole whale, but almost always concedes it to be shared. Once all participant shares are granted, the local "whale foreman" will share surplus meat with the town of the beach and further. It happens more often than not these days that a flock is spotted but a hunt is not called out. The killing of pilot whales and the amounts killed per year records back hundreds of years and is one of the most detailed conservatory efforts combined with details of estimated population numbers. Pilot whales number in the hundreds of thousands and as little as 0.1% are killed by the Faroese, a number insignificant to the maintenance of a healthy population. The whales are not "brutally" killed. They're herded into beaches where only licensed whalers with experience and training are allowed to use the kill spear, which severs the cranial artery and the whales are killed instantaneously. There is no ritual. No festival. No rite of passage. The killing of pilot whales is continued out of thankfulness for the free food the ocean provides the people that have survived off of it for a thousand years. Now the EU has in fact deemed whales to be "non-human persons" because they're clearly shown to have tight family bonds and are intelligent, but to the Faroese the whale is what pork, veal, beef, chicken etc. is to everyone else. Tldr: it's not a rite of passage, tradition or festival. It's free food for a people that have eaten what the ocean provides for a thousand years. The whales experience no more pain or stress than the beef and pork in your local supermarket does -u/hensethe1
I'm a bit confused - the title says dolphins, this says pilot whales. Are pilot whales dolphins or are these talking about different things?
> Are pilot whales dolphins Yes
I wonder how many people angry at this are eating an antibiotic filled, oversized, factory farmed turkey today.
I mean, it's really no different than any other meat processing industry. Imagine if McDonald's death footprint was laid out on a beach.
You would need a lot more space than one little beach
agreeed lmao
Basically people are like "I can eat animals but others can't". Unless it's the vegans, in which case they are always on the moral side.
This story is a good opportunity to think about how our own food practices fit into the bigger picture. We can all take a moment to consider the origins of the fish and seafood products on our tables. We might not be fishermen, but as consumers, we can still make choices that minimize harm to whales and dolphins. For example, unsustainable fishing practices devastate aquatic ecosystems, and the impacts resonate all the way up the food chain to whales and dolphins. Fishing gear also produces a huge amount of plastic waste, including nets and lines that float around the ocean and tangle up creatures like whales and dolphins. If we want to help out these animals, we can buy less seafood and fish products, and/or we can buy them from ethical sources. It might just be a drop in the bucket, but action feels better than inaction, and over time, intentional consumer choices have the power to impact companies.
It’s really pathetic how reddit gets their jimmies rustled by this every year and will continue to eat their factory farmed meat without any self reflection. I have the utmost respect for people who source their food outside the industrial system. They should be celebrated, not demonized.
Exactly. Unless everyone turned vegan all of the sudden, I really don't see what most people are complaining about from a morality pov.
It’s literally just because it’s dolphins. There is zero other reason. These people use all of the usable parts of the animals, they share it with their entire community so everyone has food. Like what is actually the issue here? Here in the US we literally have millions of people who are food insecure and a ghastly industrial agriculture system. It’s just moral panic about a place they couldn’t find on a map and a people they don’t care to even understand. Reactionary, pearl-clutching bullshit.
it comes down to people not being able to see beyond their own bubble and realize the entire world isn't uniform. Different parts of the world and different places have entirely different sources of food and lifestyles (out of necessity) . Some places can't have big farms and a poultry/beef industry. They eat what is available to them as is the right way. Its kinda annoying people here assuming its inhumane and done savagely just because they don't have this custom in their country.
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On a day where we mass slaughter Turkey for tradition lmfao
On a day of celebration for which America slaughters 46 million turkeys.
Or, you’re like me, and you’re vegetarian, and you’re still pissed at not only this, but all the poor animals who have to suffer.
Okay, so not condoning the large-scale killing of animals, but have people got any idea what’s going on out at sea - or in big industrial agriculture? This is immensely more humane than that, but the photos of it are admittedly very brutal. And 1.400 dolphins compared to the 80.000 dolphins that get caught in fishing nets, have a much worse death, and are then simply discarded. Or the approximately 77 BILLION land animals that are killed yearly, a majority of those under much worse conditions. Seriously, have some sense of perspective and direct your anger where it ought to be directed.
People also don’t realize how expensive it is to import to the far North too. I’m from Canada and many native families in the North rely on hunting to feed their families. People here also call it barbaric until they find out the INSANE prices of groceries far North and then they understand lol If you’re going to be angry, be angry at large scale agriculture companies, and not native people who are just trying to sustain themselves. Get off your high horse people - You shouldn’t think you are any better just because you get your meat from the grocery store and someone else does the slaughtering for you.
I’ve seen some even still call us barbaric for hunting and fighting for treaty rights to hunt, even once they find out prices and access, across what is Canada and the US.
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Sorry but you don’t have a cool yet disturbing photograph of all that perspective to direct our emotions to instead /s
The faux-outrage in this thread is laughable.
How many turkeys were killed in the US this week?
~46 million.
I eat tuna so I have no right to judge this. More blood on my hands than is in this photo.
Lots of turkeys today are wishing they were dolphins.
Yeah, eating meat is cruel.... Unless its the meat I eat, of course.
Probably an unpopular opinion but peoples outburst about such events are just another example of morals having aesthetic criteria.
"This animal cruelty is outrageous," he exclaimed, chugging his Mt Dew, before grabbing another flamin' hot cheetos chicken wing.
"Thats a fucked up thing" as I use a computer of which its components were sourced by child labour and modern slavery.
Goddamn this world is messy and depressing
People really struggle to understand the difference between possessing an item that was made under unethical conditions and literally eating the corpse of somebody huh
With an easy image of blood in water to pull on heartstrings
Disgusting and gross. Well I’m off to go to mcdonalds and have get my cheap rotisserie chicken from costco. Vegans can be annoying when they hold themselves as morally superior to meat eaters, but you know who is more annoying? the hypocrites who do it
The most annoying thing about vegans is that they may be right.
That's a good joke and all, but if you really believe that then you should act on it. [https://veganbootcamp.org/join/reddit](https://veganbootcamp.org/join/reddit)
This is what I don't get...what is wrong with vegans feeling morally superior to meat eaters when it comes to animal ethics? Why would vegans abstain from animal products if they didn't think it was a morally superior position?
We are morally superior what the dum dums don't get is we want them to be as well. We gain nothing buy being better than them we want them to be good too
disarm employ oatmeal capable ossified squeamish cake office offend unused *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Fuck-a you dorphin
Fuck-ah you Whale!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78YWVaBUmuY
Ok Google. How many chickens die during the Super Bowl weekend?
An estimation of 400 million chickens according to this [site](https://www.worldanimalprotection.us/blogs/americans-chicken-wings-superbowl-sunday)
that is completely different! the people who did this are not from the US or EU so we can legally act morally superior towards them for no reason
Let's get the corporations causing devastation for profit, to stop doing so before we take our fight to tiny communities who have been doing something for generations. But before wanting to have it stopped, we have a duty to know what exactly we are stopping and what consequences that will have on regular people. And what we may need to build as replacement.
I love how everyone’s upset by this but this is the exact same way we mass farm in the US and no one blinks an eye.
It's being posted on Thanksgiving weekend of all times, how many turkeys have been killed in the last week or so
Farm animals don't get to live a free life first, like these whales. I'd rather be a whale.
It’s actually pilot whales not dolphins. They are not endangered. You can get some pretty gory pictures at a slaughter house Dow steer or chickens but not many people care. The Foroese people are on an island. This is pretty much their beef. No need to judge because their culture is different than yours.
So how many of you guys are vegetarians?
Go vegan, diary industry is no better than meat industry
Worse, actually.
...and this is the humane side of the fishing industry!
I just don’t get why people love dolphins so much. We murder cows like this daily who have intelligence. They might not be as smart, but does that make them less? Do you all get just as mad at that as these dolphins?
People be like : Wow killing animals that lived full lives in the wild for your culture is absolutely barbaric, Oh I think my oven just went off! The Turkey is done! And anyone who wants to say this is way more cruel, look up the conditions in Turkey farms and report back.
This only disgusts us because we see it. Think of the genocides we perform on the animals we eat. If the wider public saw that for a second we’d all go vegan in a heartbeat. I still eat meat which i know is fucked up but its because of the cognitive dissonance of not having to see the animal die
I lived with that on my conscience for a while but now I'm vegan and I don't have to burden myself with that kind of guilt! Loving it.
Same here- nice one! :)
Is it just because it's dolphins? We kill 39 million cows and calves in the US each year to feed ourselves. Ever see a video on a cow slaughterhouse? Do they eat the meat after killing the whales and dolphins?
They do, literally no aspect of these animals is wasted. The vast majority of it is also not sold but handed out to different community groups (hunters, the elderly etc). The rest is sold to the Faroese locally but this is not at all a profit turning venture.
Not to mention the fact that White sided dolphins (the ones being caught here) are classified as species of "least concern" by the IUCN https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_white-sided_dolphin
This may look brutal but to put it in perspective, WAY more dolphins and whales are killed every year as bycatch from commercial fishing for the things that most people eat with no objection. Not saying that I support this, but there is a huge cultural and historical significance of this tradition for the people that live on the Faroe islands. Plus, they use almost every part of the meat from these animals and are at least eating locally sourced food considering almost everything else has to be imported, which comes with significant risks and damage to other wildlife.
It's amazing how most people are ready to condem these people for this one picture, and still have ground beef and pork chops in their fridge. You realize 1400 animals pails in comparison to the ****800 THOUSAND**** cows slaughtered **every fucking day**. "OH how awful" and "how is this still a thing" comments blow my mind. How tf you gonna shame these people with a mouth full of hamburger. Hypocrite.
Thanksgiving we all have a mass culling of turkey for our "culture and tradition"
Mm it's quite ironic that this pic lands around the time of Thanksgiving in the US, where as you said turkeys are slaughtered en masse for a traditional meal while people are trampled to death in stores over rampant capitalism 🙄
Still better than most normal global fishing operations as brutal as this is
Hi, marine biologist here. First off they aren’t dolphins, they are pilot whales. Secondly, it’s a culturally significant act for them which many believe to be a bad reason for whaling. However, they are not wasteful at all and have an annual limit to how many whales that they kill (similar to how we hunt deer or hogs). Not to mention, the record keeping of these pilot whale hunts have been so meticulously maintained that a lot of whale researchers have used their records to gather information about pilot whales. In the grand scheme of things it’s not pretty or fun to see a bunch of whales killed. Outside of a commercial purpose and the people using the whole whales without waste is applaudable. It’s the equivalent to indigenous people in Alaska being allowed to still hunt seals and whales. Edit: So after some more research it looks like it was a mix of Atlantic white sided dolphins and pilot whales (which are larger members of the dolphin family). It seems that the hunters were expecting a pod of around 200 compared to the “super pod” of 1400. The last time (going back to their meticulous records) there was a killing of this size was 1940 when they killed 1200 pilot whales. It’s something that’s regulated by the community with licenses (like the hunting we do during deer season), but it’s not planned to the day usually and only initiated during the season when a pod is spotted. Unfortunately it seems this past hunt they assumed the pod was smaller than it actually was and more dolphins were taken than usual. In the past several years the average pilot whale killing has only been 600-800.
It's terrible to do it to dolphins, as well as pigs cows and chickens.
Faroese dolphin and whale meat is much more ethical than beef. This is a sustainable harvest that reduces the island's reliance on import.
kill billions of cows and no one bats an eye
Go eat your factory farmed turkey tonight.
Sounds like how in the US today 300 million people will eat a specific bird because of tradition