The mass killing of dolphins in the Faroe Islands

Problems

• Cruel and unnecessary dolphin hunting.

  Situated halfway between Iceland and Scotland in the Atlantic Ocean, the Faroes are a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark made up of 18 islands.
  
  Known as the grind (or Grindadrap in Faroese), the hunting of sea mammals - primarily whales - is a tradition that has been practiced for hundreds of years on the remote Faroe Islands.
  
  The Faroese government says about 600 pilot whales are caught every year on average. White-sided dolphins are caught in lower numbers, such as 35 in 2020 and 10 in 2019.
  
  Supporters say whaling is a sustainable way of gathering food from nature and an important part of their cultural identity. Animal rights activists have long disagreed, deeming the slaughter cruel and unnecessary.
  Such hunts are regulated in the Faroe Islands. They are non-commercial and are organised on a community level, often spontaneously when someone spots a pod of the mammals.
  
  To take part, hunters must have an official training certificate that qualifies them to kill the animals.
  Surveys suggest that most people are opposed to the mass slaughter of dolphins in the Faroe Islands.
  Criticism of the Faroese hunt has ebbed and flowed over the years. The hunt is brought to wider attention from time to time.
  
  Animal rights organizations have historically condemned the cull, in which whales are killed by gashes to the neck and subsequent cuts to the spinal cord and carotid artery. 
  
  Bjarni Mikkelsen, a marine biologist from the Faroe Islands, said records showed that on September 12, 2021, the highest number of dolphins were killed in the Faroe Islands ever in a single day.