Whales Slaughtered turns the sea bloody Islanders say it’s tradition Protest are horrified at the sights (WARNING GRAPHIC VIDEO)
“The waters on the shores of Denmark’s Faroe Islands turn red in summer. The islanders are keen on preserving a centuries-old bloody practice of whale hunting, which turns small bays in slaughterhouses despite the efforts of activist to stop them.
“This is an old tradition, and as you know, there’s some conflict in this, because there are people from outside, from the mainland who don’t like what we’re doing here,” local journalist Finnur Koba told RT.
Whale meat can be boiled, broiled as a steak or air dried and can even be eaten raw in thin slices.
“Simply cook it [whale] up with potatoes, which is probably my favorite anyway,” said one islander.
“The tradition is very difficult to explain. It’s something that lives deep inside you, its culture you know. It’s what defines who you are,”
A Faroe islander, Ingi Sørensen, who also is an underwater whale photographer believes the practice belongs in the history books.
“It belongs to the past. In those days it gave us life. Without the grind there would be no life here. But today it’s absolutely unnecessary,” he said.
If there is anything likely to put a stop to the practice, it’s not protests by animal rights activists but health concerns as increasing amounts of heavy metal toxins are being found in whale meat. Some Faroe islanders, including the head physician of the islands Dr Pál Weihe, are not enthusiastic about eating it.
In 2008 Weihe, alongside the Chief Medical Officer of the islands, advised against human consumption of pilot whale.
“The amount of toxins found in pilot whales has not decreased, and we still don´t know much about the long-term damage caused by biological toxins. This is why we warn that pilot whale is not fit for human consumption,” Weihe told a Faroese magazine in September 2013.
