In the hands of the Faroese
Captured after a long drive hunt, this pod of whales in Hvannasund, 2024, illustrates the suffering endured during the grind. Picture: Sea Shepherd.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
In a scene from Whales Wars: Viking Shores, by Animal Planet, Sea Shepherd activists arrive at the Faroe Islands and are greeted by Marnar Andreasen, a foreman of a tradition known as a grindadráp, or Grind for short, in which whales are rounded up and killed. Andreasen presents a small hardback book to the volunteers, titled Two Minutes. The pages are full of images from a Grind. “You can see, it’s not a slaughter,” says Andreasen, eagerly. “We do it very well.” You think he’s being ironic. He’s not.
“Gruesome stuff,” offers one volunteer.“ Andreasen replies: “It looks barbaric but it’s not like that. It’s dead right away. No pain. Two minutes.”
“A hundred pilot whales in two minutes?” returns the volunteer, sceptically.
“Yes, the problem is, you haven’t heard it from our side,” says Andreasen. “You eat chicken, you eat so many things. We eat pilot whales.” [1]
For a moment, it’s as if Andreasen would like nothing better than for the activists to throw up their hands, say “By Jove, you’re right!” and join him for a pint of Sluppöl. Instead, they look on, mute and haggard.
“You outsiders, you don’t understand us,” says Andreasen, testily. “You’re welcome to the Faroes Islands but don’t come between us and the whales. Because that will be not so good for you ….”
Below the video the comments are a hot mess of myth and reality, support for the whaler vs condemnation of the practice; a few, inevitably, mock the volunteers. It is an excruciating clash of worlds, an exquisitely painful impasse.
Located halfway between Iceland and Norway, oddly close to the Shetland Islands, the Faroe Islands is a self-governing archipelago within Denmark. The Gulf Stream flows in from the southwest to meet cold Arctic waters, attracting marine life like pilot whales to the feast of nutrients circulating the fjords. Approximately 55,000 people live across its 18 islands, surrounded by dramatic peaks and waterfalls tumbling into the sea. Forty percent live in the capital Tórshavn, a postcard-cute city of painted houses, cobbled alleyways and grass covered roofs. Thanks to its fishing industry, the Faroes is one of the richest countries in the world - and one of the most beautiful; income from tourism doubled in ten years, to €125 million in 2023. Between the fine dining and fairytale landscapes, the Faroe Islands are, frankly, idyllic.
Except for one thing. Several times a year, the Faroese hunt long-finned pilot whales, bottlenose dolphins and white sided dolphins for meat and blubber. It’s messy and brutal. Pods are driven into bays by motorboats at which point licensed killers leap into the water, drag the mammals ashore by their blowholes, sever their spinal cords and cut open their necks so that they bleed out. Pristine bays turn red. Over the past three centuries, the Faroese have taken an average of 838 pilot whales and 75 dolphins a year [2]. The second Grind of 2025 took place in Leynar on June 12th during which 299 long-finned pilot whales were killed, including 53 unborn fetuses and countless juveniles. The call went out just as schools ended so mothers brought their children to the slaughter. Grinds are family affairs.
Culture, blood and necessity
For ‘outsiders', encountering a Grind is deeply upsetting. In 2023, passengers aboard the MS Ambition, were left aghast when a Grind took place in front of them, in Torshavn, killing 78 pilot whales, including nine tiny calves. [3] “Images cannot capture the dramatic nature of the event, during which men and women of all ages slaughtered, with evident satisfaction, hundreds of cetaceans unlucky enough to find themselves in that fjord, including the calves, whose heart-wrenching cries on the shore will stay with us,” wrote Italian tourists Vincenzo and Gabriele, last year, after they too encountered a grind. “We will also remember the many dolphins, writhing in their own blood, agonizing due to blows evidently delivered with either incompetence or indifference by those who should have had at least the decency to give them a quick death. When it was all over, most people simply left the scene as they had come, with knives sheathed in orange covers tied to their waists, smiling at the children who were with them.” [4]
For many who care about nature and animals, this is patently a massacre. For the Faroese, however, the Grind is a highly valued part of their national identity, deeply symbolic, a legacy of their Viking forebears, and the longest continuously practiced whaling tradition in the world [5] . It was also, once, a necessity. Pair those soaring cliffs with difficult weather conditions and the islands’ remote location and, suddenly, everything that can be eaten is eaten: from the seabirds to the sheep to the whales. “It was something we needed to do,” explains Faroese native Bjartur Sigmundarson, who is writing his master’s thesis on the Grind at Copenhagen’s Albrecht University. “Things don’t really grow. So it was food. Still is food.” Or as whaler Jens Mortan Rasmussen told ABC in 2016: “For me, killing an animal is killing an animal and it’s not a good thing; it’s a necessary thing for getting food.” [6] Today, the Faroes Islands still produces only 22 percent of what they eat; the rest is imported. [7] And often, Grinds kill more than the population need at one time; freezer stocks of whale parts can be high.
Of course, the Faroes are not alone in claiming the mass killing of animals as culturally legitimised practice. From the dog meat ‘festival’ of Yulin in China to the butchery endured by Spanish hunting dogs, from kangaroo hunts in Australia to the mass slaughter of cattle following Eid, from trophy hunting to fox hunting, humans continue to engage in activities of ritualistic blood lust. All have justification for their activities - food, culture, culling. Few will openly claim it as fun. Yet that element most certainly exists. As one hunter told hunting activist Eduardo Goncalves, shooting an animal “felt like mainlining heroin.” “The Grind is party time,” observes Valentina Crast, campaigns director of Sea Shepherd, drily. “There’s this element of men driving to the boats, heading out, chasing the dolphins. It’s action-packed, an adrenaline rush …”
Can culture ever be an excuse for abject cruelty? No. If that were the case, slavery, female genital mutilation, child marriage would be romping unchecked across the world, even today. At the same time, can one culture tell another what to do? Again, no. Because, if you were looking for a definitive act of colonisation, that would probably be it.
Whales killed with spinal lances and bled out are hauled onto the blacktop in Hvannasund, 2024. This grim process underscores the brutality of the grind. Picture: Sea Shepherd.
In Whale Wars: Viking Shores, throaty voiceovers and thumping soundtracks overlay skirmishes between activists and whalers. Sea Shepherd’s intrepid boats engage in deliberately confronting tactics, such as ramming whaling ships, to protect the whales. There is little doubt who we’re supposed to be rooting for. But Faroese backlash to their portrayal as ruthless killers has been vociferous, causing the community to, tragically, hunker down. Rob Read is leader of the Captain Paul Watson Foundation UK, named for the co-founder of Sea Shepherd, now head of Neptune's Pirates UK. “One year, we actually offered the Faroe Islanders; one million pounds, which would go to promoting whale and dolphin tourism to the islands and marine conservation education to Faroese kids in schools,” he told Species Unite. “And the Faroese response to our offer was the most emphatic ‘no’ you’ve ever had in your life. They actually held a hunt on the 1st of January. On the first day of that offer, they went out and deliberately killed pilot whales as their official ‘no’ to us.”
“The aggression [of the activists] got the Faroese really riled up,” says Sigmundarson, ruefully. “The whole country came together around a common enemy. It wasn't really about the Grind; it was about someone telling us what we could or couldn’t do. Now, the islanders want nothing to do with marine life organisations. If you’re against the Grind in any way, you could be called a traitor. And that’s part of everything that happened ….”
A new spirit of collaboration
Activists have been left with a dilemma: pursue a strategy that saved some whales and made excellent television but left local people seething - or try something else. Sea Shepherd 2.0, without Watson, is plumping for the latter. In a statement released in January this year, Crast announced the shift. “The days of aggressive takeovers and divisive narratives of ‘them vs. us’ are long gone. It’s time to start paving the way for meaningful, effective activism for the whales and dolphins in the Faroe Islands. This activism must be rooted in the Faroe Islands, led by Faroese activists, and supported by the broader ocean protection community worldwide. There is no other solution — it must be collective … [8]
And it must be Faroese. “Rather than fostering animosity, our role as ocean protection advocates must be to support and empower local voices,” Crast continued. “Change will be driven most effectively by Faroese individuals and communities who share the vision of ending the Grindadráp. International efforts will continue to provide vital resources, amplify messages and build global solidarity but they cannot substitute for the essential leadership of those embedded in the community and engaged in the issue.”
More and more animal advocacy groups are seeing the value of working within communities; responding to culture, listening for barriers to change. In the UK, Animal Rising offshoot Vegans Support Farmers are building allies with livestock farmers. In China, Duo Duo Project runs outreach and education in the heart of the dog meat trade that is Yulin. Last month, lawyer and advocate Taylor Waters published a linkedin post titled ‘When Everyone’s in the Room: rethinking moral perfectionism as the price of admission’ in which she wrote: “When we close ourselves off from those with whom we disagree, we lose more than just the opportunity to persuade; we lose the chance to learn ...” [9] And, as strategist Tobias Leeneart asked at the recent Vegan and Animal Rights Conference in a talk, Building a Bigger Tent and Helping More Animals: “Are there non-vegans in the room? I think that’s a pity. It means that we’re not including everybody.” [10]
So, this year - the first for its new approach - Sea Shepherd’s crew have been cleaning beaches and putting a focus on food waste by dumpster diving and distributing their finds. Ranging from their early 20s to mid 50s, the volunteers are handpicked by Crast for kindness and social intelligence, working quietly to erase the impression of Sea Shepherd as zealots. “I’m amazed with the positive responses they’re getting,” says Crast. At a recent beach clean, residents gave them thumbs up; an elderly couple brought down cookies to say thank you. “I know that sounds like a small thing but, for us, it’s headline-worthy, particularly as the older generation still remember the activism of the 1980s and 1990s,” says Crast. The volunteers have another, tougher job: to document the grinds as they happen and share their findings with Crast. If resulting press statements pulse with grief, the crew give no hint of it as they continue respectful interactions with the Faroese.
Something else is changing. Around the world, pockets of activists are making it clear that nature is dying; that animals - wild, farmed, domesticated - are part of that nature; that in losing them, we are losing more richness and intelligence than we ever dreamed possible - and that without them, humans are finished. Despite all the bluster, some Faroese are starting to understand this too. When a record 1,483 dolphins were killed in a single event in 2021, during which the mammals were left writhing for hours, due to lack of available whalers, there was local outcry. “I get nauseous seeing this kind of thing,” said one commentator on the Facebook page of the local broadcaster Kringvarp Foroya. Another wrote: “I’m embarrassed to be Faroese.” Even Heri Petersen, then Chair of the local Grind Association told the local in.fo news site : “I’m appalled at what happened.” [2] It is among voices like these that the Faroese will find someone to guide them away from Grinds.
“In my research, I’m finding more people who acknowledge the fact that the Faroes don't need the Grind any more,” says Sigmundarson. “The younger generation, in particular, find it a bit outdated.” Crast agrees: “Young people who leave the Faroes to travel the world, for example, have a much greater tendency to come back and say, yeah, [this tradition] isn’t important to me. How much of the population is dormant? It’s a guess but I think the number is higher than we think.”
The challenge will be finding ground that ignites a mass movement. Make the case, for example, that only 3 percent of the world’s mammalian biomass is wild and the Faroese will point out - quite rightly - that their impact compared to the rest of the world is miniscule. “When it comes to ecology and biodiversity, I can only give you the input I’ve been given and that is, why should we stop doing what we’re doing when everyone else is doing worse?” says Crast. “They feel like they’re trapped by the consequences of the bigger world and now we’re asking them to make a sacrifice.”
Make the case that it’s cruel and the Faroese will point to the egregious systems of factory farming around the world. The whales are wild and free, they argue, and the deaths are relatively fast. They have a point; the June 12th grind was over in 20 minutes. Compare that to the recent report by Animal Justice Project into the dismal lives and excruciating deaths by carbon dioxide of thousands of young pigs at Cranswick, Hessle, East Yorkshire and, to be honest, I’d rather be a whale in the Faroes than a pig in Norfolk [11]. “The Faroese always use the argument that 500 pilot whales a year is nothing compared to all the pigs or chickens that get killed in Denmark,” says Sigmundarson. “It’s frustrating because the conversation stops right there.”
What about reminding the Faroese that whales possess self-awareness, social bonds that span decades, vocal learning, cultural transmission, memory and even grief? “How can a person be ok with killing a mammal, knowing it’s more intelligent than other animals? I don’t know,” muses Sigmundarson. “As children, we didn’t question it. The killing was secondary to the belief that this is food.” Like great apes, whales have complex emotional lives. They have teach their young and bear ancient migratory knowledge passed down through generations; a connection rooted in the wild world that humans can only dream of. Increasingly, people are starting to understand that when we slaughter a whale, we slaughter a teacher, an elder, a guide.
Grinds are family affairs. Picture: Stop the Grind.
“It’s a different part of the work,” admits Crast, thoughtfully. “Throughout the years, Faroese women have approached me and said, ‘you should tell more stories about the whales. Talk about how long it takes for them to have a baby, how rare it is that they actually have one, how strong the ties are, how they have languages and names for each other, and how all these complex structures show that they are sentient beings, not mindless fish.’ At the moment, 95% of our material is of dolphins suffering ….”
Making the case for change
Sea Shepherd isn’t working alone. The group is part of Stop the Grind, an international initiative birthed in outrage at the 2021 slaughter. “It was brutal and it was awful but it opened up the space for international policy and advocacy,” remembers Crast. Members of STG include passionate MEPs and heavy hitters in the advocacy space such as Blue Planet Society, The European Institute for Animal Law & Policy and Marine Connection - and personalities such as Chris Packham and Peter Egan.
STG’s challenge to the Grind is three fold. [12] The first is ethical: that the Grinds cause untold suffering to intelligent animals. Those strong familial bonds mean that the dolphins stay together during the Grind, rather than try to escape. Andreasen’s claim of ‘no pain’ is, at the very least, suspect. Imagine drowning, immobile, in your own blood, next to everyone you care about, including your children; that’s the death of a whale in the Grind. The practice violates Council Regulation (EC) 1099/2009, which requires that animals be spared pain, suffering or distress during killing. The Faroe Islands may not be a member of the European Union but it does heavily rely on the EU for trade: all those fishes for sale. Accordingly, in May MEP Francisco Guerreiro filed a motion for a resolution in the European Parliament to suspend EU funding to the Faroe Islands as long as these killings continue.
STG’s second challenge is public health. Even the Faroese health authorities haved advised against the eating of whale meat, which contains high amounts of mercury, PCBs and DDT derivatives. Pregnant women and those planning pregnancy are advised not to consume whales. Nothing galvanises like self-interest. STG’s final challenge is legal and environmental. The Faroe Islands may claim the Grind is sustainable and that whale populations aren’t threatened but both the long-finned pilot whale and Atlantic white-sided dolphins favoured by Grinds are listed as protected species under The Bern Convention and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Everyone else is safeguarding them; should the Faroe Islands be the exception?
The reaction of the passengers aboard MS Ambition offers another avenue for change: the loss of global reputation (as opposed to public shaming). “On one hand, [the Faroese] promote their pristine environment and spectacular wildlife while simultaneously wielding gaff hooks and lances to kill whales and dolphins,” raged Sally Hilmton, CEO Of ORCA, at the time [13]. “At some point, the Faroese authorities will have to decide if its marine life is a more attractive proposition when it is alive than when it is being killed.”
Earlier this month, Dr. Jane Goodall & JGI’s Cetacean Committee published an open letter to the Faroe Islands. “The Faroe Islands have a rich and unique history, along with stunning and dramatic landscapes. However, the archipelago is primarily known globally for its controversial treatment of marine mammals. The graphic scenes of the hunts from the islands are frequently shared on social media, shocking and scandalizing viewers globally. We, along with many others, find these images truly horrific, and the suffering is heart-wrenching. [14]
“Many individuals and organizations have condemned this practice and called for it to end, and we join our voices with theirs. While many traditions hold value and are worth preserving, we urge the Faroe Islands to reconsider and ultimately abolish this cruel practice.
“Similar to how other cultures have moved on from traditions that are harmful to animals, such as harvesting and using bear bile, or consuming dog meat, we hope for a positive change here as well that will undoubtedly also lead to more tourism opportunities for your beautiful islands.”
“What an opportunity for the Faroese people to free themselves from obsolete practices linked to our #naturenegative approach to life, and show the world how to become champions in embracing change,” added Marco Lambertini, former Director General of WWF and now leading the Nature Positive Initiative.
The promise of legal personhood
Beyond the Grind, a new movement is starting to take hold. At the Ocean Conference in Nice, a global campaign was launched to grant whales legal personhood. Led by the Moananui Sanctuary, grounded in Pacific Indigenous leadership and backed by legal experts, the proposal would recognise whales not as property or resources, but as sentient beings with the right to exist, migrate, and be free from harm. It is a thrilling proposition. “If whales were granted legal personhood, it would change the legal landscape in profound ways,” writes ocean campaigner Luke Mcmillan. “Harpoons, ship strikes, acoustic trauma and captivity would no longer be administrative matters or conservation statistics. They would become violations of rights.”. [15]
Right now, the pilot whales are moving through ancient waterways, singing their mysterious songs. They are already encountering formidable systemic challenges: rapidly heating oceans, industrial noise and plastic pollution, rising ocean acidification, the collapse of the Gulf Stream, ship strikes and hunting. The very least we can do, as Mcmillan writes, is raise our voices before the next harpoon is fired.
REFERENCES
VHS Vulture (2021) Faroese man scares Sea Shepherd - Whale Wars. Available at: https://youtu.be/mFMzkjP0yHw?si=PCBw7rIgWoi5ny8X
Orange, R. (2021) 'Outcry over killing of almost 1,500 dolphins on Faroe Islands'. The Guardian, 14 September.
Clark, M. (2023) ‘Ambassador Cruise line apologises after passengers see dozens of whales being slaughtered,’ Independent, 21 July. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/ambassador-cruise-line-pilot-whales-killed-b2377846.html
Sea Shepherd (2024). ‘"Heart-Wrenching Cries on the Shore": Tourists Witness Faroes Dolphin Slaughter’, 14 September. https://www.seashepherdglobal.org/latest-news/tourists-witness-grind/
Lee, J. J. (2014) ‘Faroe Island Whaling: a 1000 Year Tradition Comes Under Renewed Fire’, National Geographic, 12 September. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/140911-faroe-island-pilot-whale-hunt-animals-ocean-science
Carnegie, J. (2016). ‘The Grind: Faroe Islands divided over Whaling Tradition,’ Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 21 November. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-21/faroe-islands-divided-over-whaling-tradition/80302
Jungsberg, L. (2025). ‘Towards healthy and sustainable diets in Greenland and the Faroe Islands’, Nordic Council of Ministers’ project Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems, 26 February.
Crast, V (2025). ‘A Call for Change in the Faroe Islands campaign,’ Sea Shepherd, 20 January, https://www.seashepherdglobal.org/latest-news/change-faroe-islands-campaign/
Waters, T. (2025). ‘When Everyone’s in the Room: rethinking moral perfectionism as the price of admission,’ Linkedin, 23 May. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-everyones-room-rethinking-moral-perfectionism-price-waters-7gbec/
Vegan and Animal Rights Conference (2025), ‘Building a Bigger Tent and Helping More Animals with Tobias Leenaert, Proveg. Available at YouTube: https://youtu.be/yhUYGxefmek?si=RF8dfDZ2cLjhzsOa
Cooper, A. (2025). ‘Breaking: Cranswick Expose’, Animal Justice Project, 11 May. https://www.animaljusticeproject.com/post/breaking-cranswick-expose
Stop the Grind, ‘Why Ban the Grind’, https://www.stopthegrind.org/why-ban-the-grind
ORCA (2023), ‘Cruise ship passengers horrified as faroe islands pilot whales slaguhter in front of them’, ORCA, 11 July.
Goodall, J (2025). ‘An open letter from Dr Jane Goodall and JGI’s Cetacean Committe on Whale Hunting in the Faroe Islands’, https://news.janegoodall.org/2025/06/24/an-open-letter-from-dr-jane-goodall-jgis-cetacean-committee-on-whale-hunting-in-the-faroe-islands/
McMillan, L. (2025) I’m a Person Too: The Legal Revolution that could save Whales. Linkedin, 24 June. https://weareoceanrising.substack.com/p/im-a-person-too-the-legal-revolution?r=1x6gj5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
