WebProNews

Tag: pilot whales

  • Faroe Islands Pilot Whale Activists Arrested

    On Saturday, fourteen members of the animal rights activist group Sea Shepherd were arrested on the Faroe island of Sandoy in the North Atlantic, after attempting to stop the slaughter of 33 pilot whales.

    Locally, the culling of the whales is known as a “grind,” and Operation Grindstop was initiated to save more than thousand pilot whales, which are among the largest members of the dolphin family. In a practice which Sea Shepherd refers to as being a “brutal and archaic mass slaughter,” Faroe Islands fishermen herd the cetaceans into a bay using flotillas, and then hack them to death with hooks and knives. Many locals defend the hunt as being their cultural right.

    Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd France, commented, “the 14 have been under arrest since Saturday, and three of our boats have also been seized.” The Faroe Islands are under the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark, and the Danish Armed Forces’ Arctic Command stepped in to commandeer the boats.

    Here is a graphic clip of a Faroe Islands grind in 2013:

    The B.S. Sheen was one of the boats seized on Saturday, which is sponsored by Charlie Sheen. The actor said in a statement, “The Faroese whalers brutally slaughtered an entire pod of 33 pilot whales today – several generations taken from the sea – and Denmark is complicit in the killing.”

    Former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson has also been involved in Operation GrindStop, and commented, “This is not for survival. There are very few things that happen like this that are so brutal. We have to put this behind us and move on, and let the whales swim freely. And I think it’s much more important for us in the future to save our oceans and the biodiversity of our oceans that the whales are very important to.”

    According to Sea Shepherd, 267 pilot whales were killed in a single grind in 2013 near the Faroese town of Fuglafjorour.

  • Pamela Anderson Wants To Stop Whale Hunts

    Pamela Anderson has always had a soft spot for animals and works hard to protect them from abuse, neglect and exploitation.

    While Anderson has been involved with a lot of animal rights campaigns, she is now focused on stopping whale hunts.

    She is working against the grind slaughter in the Faroe Islands. The slaughter takes place annually and claims the lives of hundreds of pilot whales each time. It is a tradition for the islanders and some of them even consider it a right of passage.

    Anderson recently spoke out against the slaughter saying,

    “This is not for survival. There are very few things that happen like this, that are this brutal. We have to put this behind us and move on, and let the whales swim freely by. And I think it’s much more important for us in the future to save our oceans and the biodiversity of our oceans that the whales are very important to.”

    She called out to young people and asked that they help campaign against the slaughter as well and for anyone living on the Faroe Islands to stop the slaughter.

    “Young people probably feel pressure to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors. I think this is the perfect time to not listen to your parents, to think for yourself. Maybe there’s going to be a movement like there have been movements for many other things in the world where you look inside yourself and say ‘Is this something I should be doing just because my parents did it and my grandparents did it?’ This is a new time and the world is at risk…I think this is the generation that has to stand up and say ‘That was then, this is now; this is what I’m going to do,’” she said.

    Anderson is not alone in her campaign efforts. Operation GrindStop 2014 is a huge campaign that includes over 500 volunteers who work both on land and water to stop the senseless killing of the whales.

    What do you think of the campaign and Pamela Anderson?

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Pamela Anderson Saving Faroe Islands Pilot Whales

    Actress Pamela Anderson, along with a handful of other celebrities, are joining roughly 500 volunteers on the Faroe Islands in the remote North Atlantic, in an attempt to stop the mass slaughter of pilot whales.

    “Operation GrindStop” was initiated to save more than 1,000 pilot whales, which are among the largest members of the dolphin family. Locally, the culling of the whales is known as a “grind.” Famed ballet dancer Sylvie Guillem and sailor Florence Arthaud, both from France, are joining the campaign founded by the environmental group Sea Shepherd.

    In a practice which Sea Shepherd refers to as being a “brutal and archaic mass slaughter,” Faroe Islands fishermen herd the cetaceans into a bay using flotillas, and then hack them to death with hooks and knives. Many locals defend the hunt as being their cultural right.

    Here is a graphic clip of a Faroe Islands grind in 2013:

    Anti-grind campaigners suggest that while there was once a need for Faroe Islanders to hunt the whales for food, that need no longer exists.

    Former Baywatch star Anderson commented, “This is not for survival. There are very few things that happen like this that are so brutal. We have to put this behind us and move on, and let the whales swim freely. And I think it’s much more important for us in the future to save our oceans and the biodiversity of our oceans that the whales are very important to.”

    In related Faroe Islands news, back in November of last year, a putrefied whale carcass that washed ashore exploded in a biologist’s face, as he attempted to cut into the 45-foot mass of dead meat.

    Here is the rather graphic clip:

    Incidentally, the Faroe Islands are an island group and archipelago under the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. The total area of the remote land is approximately 540 square miles.

    The islands have been a self-governing country within the Danish Realm since 1948, and have taken control over most domestic matters over the years. Still, like with most protectorates, Denmark handles military defense, policing, justice, currency and foreign affairs.

    Here is an excellent documentary on the Faroe islands:

    Image via YouTube