Sea turns red with blood in Faroe Islands as dozens of whales and dolphins are slaughtered

The annual butchering of whales and dolphins is well underway in the Faroe Islands, as disgusted animal lovers slam the bloodbath as “sad and barbaric”.

The NGO Sea Shepherd said that it was a “Return of the Bloody Fjords” as 252 long-finned pilot whales and 35 Atlantic white-sided dolphins were slaughtered on just one day, sending crimson-tinted waves onto the shore of Sandvik.

The group added that meat from the whales would be distributed to participants in the hunt and then given to villages on the southern island of Suðuroy, with recipients free to sell their share of the meat.

“On average, 1500 dolphins are massacred every year in the Faroe Islands, which invoke an ancestral tradition to justify this barbaric practice,” Sea Shepherd said.

Although the practice of hunting whales and dolphins has been called an annual ritual in the archipelago, the Faroese government has argued the killings take place to provide food for local communities and are fully regulated by law.

They have also said the whales are not endangered species and argued that the practice is sustainable.

“The average catch of around 800 whales a year is not considered to have a significant impact on the abundance of pilot whales, which are estimated at around 778,000,” the government said.

However, some environmental groups have strongly criticised the hunts, with the group ORCA referring to the practice as an “insane blood sport”.

Captain Paul Watson, an environmental activist and Sea Shepherd’s founder, has called for a boycott of Faroese products and tourism over the hunts, which are known as the Grindadràp.