dolphin massacre

The primitive Mexicans, before the appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe, used to sacrifice people and take out their beating hearts as a “tradition” to honour an Aztec god! Aztec religion had lost its focus by 1531. The Aztecs offered annually at least 20,000 men, women and children in human sacrifice to their gods. In 1487, just in a single 4 days long ceremony for the dedication of a new temple in Tenochtitlan, some 80,000 captives were killed in human sacrifice. “Tradition” is no excuse for cruelty, sacrifice, barbarity and evil!

THESE PICTURES HAVE TO BE SEEN AROUND THE WORLD. THERE IS NO CRUELER BEAST THAN MAN!

Whaling in the Faeroe Islands has been practised since 1584. It is regulated by Faeroese authorities but not by the International Whaling Commission as there are disagreements about the Commission's competency for small cetaceans. Around 950 Long-finned Pilot Whales (Globicephala melaena) are killed annually, mainly during the summer.

(photos from Wikipedia Commons)

During the cut of a pilot whale's spine, their main arteries also get cut. Because of this the surrounding sea tends to turn a spectacular bloody red. Entire schools of whales are killed on the shore and in the shallows of bays with knives which are used to sever the major blood supply to the brain. This is the most “efficient” and “humane” means of killing these animals under the circumstances, but it naturally results in a lot of blood in the water.

Activists however argue that during the medieval times, Faeroe islanders had shortages of food compared to this time and that food is abundant already in the Island. Using "tradition" as an excuse for the slaughter of these gentle animals is truly unacceptable.

This brutality happens every year. This bloody slaughter is in the Faeroe Islands, which belongs to Denmark . A country supposedly 'civilised' and a EUROPEAN UNION country.

The Faeroese do not believe that the pilot whale meat on their plate represents more animal suffering caused by humans than a similar amount of imported meat and are therefore not prepared to accept the demands for a ban on a catch which makes a large contribution to the meat production of the islands.

Most Faeroese consider the hunt an important part of their culture and history. Animal-rights groups criticise the hunt as being cruel and unnecessary while the hunters claim in return that most journalists do not exhibit sufficient knowledge of the catch methods or its economic significance.

Royal Danish Embassy
15 Hunter Street
Yarralumla, ACT 2600

Tel.: +61 (2) 6270 5333
Fax: +61 (2) 6270 5324
www.canberra.um.dk
cbramb[AT]um.dk

Prime Minister of Denmark
Anders Fogh Rasmussen
Christiansborg
Prins Jørgens Gård 11
1218 Copenhagen K
Denmark
Tel: +45 33 92 33 00
Fax +45 33 11 16 65
E-mail: stm[AT]stm.dk

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark
2, Asiatisk Plads
DK-1448 Copenhagen K
Tel. +45 33 92 00 00
Fax +45 32 54 05 33
E-mail um[AT]um.dk

High Commissioner of the Faeroe Islands
Dan Michael Knudsen
E-mail: riomfr[AT]fo.stm.dk

Faroese Government contact information:
Prime Minister's Office
E-mail: info[AT]tinganes.fo

Faroe Islands Tourist Board
E-mail: tourist[AT]tourist.fo

Paul Watson: I have fought Faeroese whalers and the Faeroese authorities for years. We have had dramatic confrontations in Faeroese waters in 1985 and 1986 and again in 2000 trying to stop the pilot whale drive where entire pods are driven into shore, knifed, speared, stoned and clubbed in a barbarous orgy of cruelty and waste.

I have seen the bays of the Faeroe Islands stained red with blood and I've heard the screams of mortally wounded whales pleading for their lives as insensitive brutes drunk on slaughter are showered in the hot blood of the whales, laughing and swearing as their vicious blades rape the whales repeatedly. It is a monstrous spectacle and it is an obscenity fully embraced by the Danish government and many of the Danish people.
Response from the Danish Embassy in Canberra:
Some of these facts include the following:

• The purpose of the catch is to produce food,
• The hunt is regulated by the authorities,
• The catch is biologically sustainable,
• The authorities take the animal welfare aspect of the hunt seriously.

Further information about the Faroese pilot whale drive.

It may also be useful to view this way of providing food in a broader context:
How does this whale hunt compare with other hunts of large mammals in the wild, with the treatment of farmed animals throughout their life cycle, and of animals which are regarded as a nuisance;

(my response) One crime against Nature, hunts of other large mammals in the wild, is not used as a measuring stick to justify further crimes! The means does not justify the ends, and there is nothing that makes animals a resource for massacres to support the economy or “tradition”!

Ethics of food production: Does a meal of pilot whale meat represent more or less cumulated man-made animal pain than dishes normally eaten in one’s own country?

Again, the abattoir is the benchmark! The reality we humans do not need to eat meat! Our nearest cousins on the evolutionary tree are primates, and their main diets consists of plants. They are mainly foraging vegetarians! Eating meat is about flavour and conditioning, and commercial interests.

Geographic and nutritional factors, availability of alternative food sources, notably in islands and remote coastal areas, not least in arctic or sub-arctic parts of the world.

There is not much nutritional value in whale meat that could not be found in a vegan diet. They could supplement their diets with local fish.

Cultural diversity, and tolerance/intolerance towards people with different food preferences and/or different attitudes towards different animals;

“Diversity” in crimes against sentient non-human creatures can be used just to justify different food preferences? Where is the limit to what we eat, just for the flavour? Humans have a moral and spiritual dimension and are capable of making ethical decisions. There are many flavours that could be experienced without the immense suffering caused to these intelligent animals.

Sense of proportions: How important is this particular issue compared to other environmental or animal welfare concerns facing the contemporary world?
Adding another crime against wildlife does not diminish the many crimes of humanity towards the environment and against other creatures. The magnitude of human cruelty and greed will continue to escalate if each issue, each atrocity, is just considered insignificant against the back-drop of the globe. Each life pales into insignificance. We lose the intrinsic value of peaceful creatures, and the same could be said of human lives.

Additionally, the Embassy states that: If you should wish to address the Faeroese authorities regarding pilot whaling, the relevant e-mail addresses of the Faeroese Government are mfa[AT]mfa.fo and fisk[AT]fisk.fo
More hand-washing!