Faroe Islands Resumes Controversial Dolphin Hunt

The Faroe Islands have killed more than 500 dolphins since their controversial hunt resumed in May, local authorities in Denmark's autonomous territory in the north Atlantic said on Thursday.

In the Faroese tradition known as "grindadrap", or "grind" for short, hunters surround pilot whales and dolphins with a wide semi-circle of fishing boats and drive them into a shallow bay where they are beached.

Fishermen on shore slaughter them with knives.

Every summer, images of the bloody hunt make headlines around the world and spark outrage among animal rights defenders who consider the practice barbaric.

"Yesterday there were two grinds, one with 266 catches and the other one with 180, according to the first reports," a Faroese government spokesman told AFP.

The two "grinds", which involved a species of dolphin known as pilot whales, bring to five the number of "grinds" so far this season.

Environmental NGO Sea Shepherd, which managed to disrupt the 2014 hunt with its boats, criticised the fact that Danish navy vessels are authorised to intervene to block environmentalists from disrupting the hunt.

But the hunt still enjoys broad support in the Faroes, where supporters point out that the animals have fed the local population for centuries and accuse the media and foreign NGOs of disrespecting local culture and traditions.

They typically kill around 800 pilot whales a year.

In 2022, the government limited the number of Atlantic white-sided dolphins that could be killed per year to 500, after an unusually large slaughter of more than 1,400 sparked an outcry, even among locals.

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