Over 1,400 white-sided dolphins were killed Sunday in the North Atlantic waters off the coast of Denmark’s autonomous Faroe Islands, according to reports and footage of the incident.
In a practice called the Grindadrap, often referred to as the Grind, boats drive the dolphins into shallow water by the shore, where they are killed with knives, according to a report.
Their remains are then distributed to locals to be eaten, according to officials.
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In the footage released, the water is seen turning red as thrashing dolphins are killed in front of hundreds of onlookers watching from land.
The Faroese government said roughly 600 pilot whales are hunted every year, with the numbers of white-sided dolphins being far lower — reporting 35 in 2020.
The Faroe Islands have not killed more than 1,000 dolphins since a record was set in 1940, with 1,200 dolphins hunted, an official said.
While supporters of the Grind say the practice is a form of cultural identity and a way to get food, animal rights activists have long been shocked by the practice.
Hunters killed a super-pod of over 1,400 dolphins in one day in Denmark’s Faroe Islands, the deadliest hunt on record.
The animals were herded by boats and slaughtered in what locals say is a traditional whale hunt. Critics call it “barbaric.”
(?: @seashepherd) pic.twitter.com/LNoGugCiqj— AJ+ (@ajplus) September 15, 2021
Still, the scale of Sunday’s hunt has even been labeled “excessive” by Olavur Sjurdarberg, the chairman of the Faroese Whalers Association.
“It was a big mistake,” Sjurdarberg told the BBC. “When the pod was found, they estimated it to be only 200 dolphins.”
Sjurdarberg, who did not participate in the Grind, said the actual size of the pod was discovered after the killing began.
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“Somebody should have known better,” he said. “Most people are in shock about what happened.”
