Grindaboð! Something is rotten in Denmark…

By Norberto Ovando. He reports the slaughters of caldrons (or pilot whales) that are realized in the Faroe Islands located in the North Atlantic Ocean, and that are an autonomous territory of the kingdom of Denmark. The ancestral ceremonies of the grindaboð and the grindadráp, open the hunt.

Perhaps they do not be easy to find the Faroe Islands in a map, but once you know where they are and what they do: you will never forget them!

The Faroe Islands are an autonomous territory inside the kingdom of Denmark. They are constituted by 18 green islands that arose from the sea in right center of the North Atlantic Ocean. And his motto to sell them in the world is “Allow that nature takes possession of you ”.

The official language is the feroense and it has his roots in the ancient norse. The official page of Denmark promotes them this way: "Allow you to go for the sensations. Breath deeply and allows that the purity invade your mind ”. This way they amuse themselves in the Faroe Islands.

When the summer comes in the North Hemisphere and the whales continue his migratory path, they approach the islands in search for food, because the waters are less deep, more warm and rich in food.

Such an awaited day has arrived, the pilot whales or common caldrons as they are known, already are here. A watchtower has shouted the voice of alarm and the crafts go out to the sea in his search.





The whale pilot has long fins and completely black, is a dolphin that measures from 3 to 7 meters, it weighs between 4 or 5 tons and they are extremely social and that characteristic is made use for ambush them and lower them up to the shore.

From the boats they thrown stones that serve to lead them towards the wished destination, at the time they corner them and guiding towards the bay. The whales of behind push those of ahead and the gregarious spirit of those cetacean does that the herd goes grouped towards his dramatic end.

When the whales approach to the beach they crowd and remain trapped, they are hundred and hundred that can neither step back nor advance. On the coast, the people, warned for hours, impatient waiting. The whales have returned after the long and cold winter.

The schools have given a holiday.

The herd has fallen down in the trap the man has layed them.

It begins "grindaboð" and the "grindadráp".

These two words in language feroés mean "whale at sight " and “to hunt whales”.

The people see the boats and they shout grindaboð!, grindaboð! and the adolescents who will lead the slaughter, they will "demonstrate" this way his entry to the adult age, his virility, wait to the whales in the shore where they stranded and without being able to step back since the boats block to him the way behind, and begins the slaughter.

With a hook to fix them, called blásturongul and a saw they do a wound in the spine trying to cut and to break his principal arteries, while the pain that is provoking them cut them to the animals they do that these shake his bodies desperately trying to be liberating of the killers, and once achieved the deep cut it begins the big bled, being the causer that the sea is dyed of blood-red.

Meanwhile from the shore the children see in this space become infested with blood proveniente of the cruel slaughter of more or less 900 animals every year, that not always die rapidly; the adults observe calmly this barbarism.





Every year thousand caldrons or pilot whales are massacred. The caldrons, the most intelligent dolphin has the peculiarity of approaching the persons for pure curiosity.

The caldron, which scientific name is Globicephala melas or Globicephala macrorhynchus is a cetacean of the family of the dolphins and is catalogued as species threatened with special interest, appearing also in the Red List of the World Union for the Nature - IUCN - like of low risk.

The hunting in the Faroe Islands is a topic of great controversy in the recent years especially for the inhuman methods used in the hunting and the question of if this is necessary from a socio-economic or nutritional point of view.

Some studies have determined that the meat of the caldrons or whales pilots can be a risk for the health of the consumers due to the big quantity of pollutants found in her, i.e. metals as the mercury, the cadmium, policlorobiphenils (PCB) and other organoclorines.

The fishing industry generates the majority of the income of the feroenses. In fact, the fishing products constitute 97 % of the volume of the entire exports of the islands.

The blood’ dyed sea and the brutal slaughter before the sight of the whole world, is an image that in the XXIst century strikes the conscience of million citizens of different countries and of groups conservationists of the round world.

Norberto Ovando

Vice-president Friends of the National Parks Association (AAPN) World Commission of Protected Areas Expert (WCPA) of the UICN, Latin-American Network of Protected Areas (RELAP)

Original article (in spanish) here

Danish embassies worldwide: Help us to stop this atrocity. Please call or write to the Danish Embassy in your country. They can be reached here. And write too to the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Faroese Parliament and the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Faröese Prime Minister's Office.

A SAMPLE TEXT IN ENGLISH, SPANISH, DANISH AND SWEDISH

English: Mr. Governor of the Faröe Islands: I know of the slaughter of pilot whales who is carried out in the Faröe Islands, and I realize that everywhere animals are killed for human feeding. Nevertheless, the character of popular festivity you give it in the Faröe Islands, does not allow me to infer that the above mentioned slaughter is carried out exclusively to feed. Rather it is alike the bitter spectacle of the bullfights, in which it is enjoyed the suffering of beings that do not have any real possibility of defending themselves from his attackers. Entire families are murdered every year this way, before the laugh and the pleasure of the assistants. On behalf of a great part of the humanity, to whom these atavistic behavior turn out to be shocking and incomprehensible, we ask you respectfully to stop doing what you do right now. We ask you to dictate right now the laws that prohibit this slaughter intended to satisfy the sadism and the cruelty. We will much acknowledge your quick response to this claim.

Spanish: Sr. Gobernador de las Islas Faröe: Sé de la matanza de ballenas piloto que se realiza en las Islas Faröe, y soy consciente de que en todas partes del mundo se matan animales para la alimentación humana. No obstante, el carácter de festividad popular que se les asigna en las Islas Faröe, no me permite inferir que dicha matanza se realice exclusivamente con el fin de alimentarse. Más bien se asemeja al amargo espectáculo de las corridas de toros, en la que se disfruta del sufrimiento de seres que no tienen ninguna posibilidad real de defenderse de sus atacantes. Familias enteras son asesinadas todos los años de este modo, ante la risa y la complacencia de los asistentes. En nombre de una buena parte de la humanidad, a la que estas costumbres históricas nos resultan chocantes e incomprensibles, le pedimos con todo respeto que dejen de hacer lo que hacen ya mismo. Le pedimos que dicte ahora las leyes que prohiban esta matanza destinada a satisfacer el sadismo y la crueldad. Le agradeceré mucho una pronta respuesta satisfactoria a este pedido.

Danish: Herr Guvernør på øerne Faröe: Jeg kender til aflivning af pilot hvaler, der finder sted i Øer Faröe, og jeg er bevidst om, at i alle dele af verden dræbe dyr til konsum. Men karakteren af festivity mennesker, der er tildelt i Øer Faröe, ikke tillader mig at antage, at sådanne drab er lavet kun til at brødføde sig selv. Tværtimod, det ligner den bitre syn af tyrefægtning, som nyder godt af de lidelser væsener der ikke har nogen reel chance for at forsvare sig mod deres angribere. Hele familier bliver dræbt hvert år på denne måde, at latter og selvtilfredshed af publikum. På vegne af en stor del af menneskeheden, som Disse historiske vaner er chokerende og uforståeligt for os, beder vi med al respekt at stoppe gør, hvad de gør nu. Vi beder nu diktere de love, der forbyder denne massakre på at opfylde sadisme og grusomhed. Jeg ville sætte pris på din hurtige meget tilfredsstillende svar på denne anmodning.

Swedish: Herr Guvernör på Faröarna: Jag fick veta om avlivning av så kallade pilot valar som äger rum på Faröarna, och jag är medveten om att i alla delar av världen dödar man djur för mänskliga konsumtion. Men den typ av folklig högtidlighet som slakteriet har på Faröarna tillåter mig inte att dra slutsatsen att detta endast görs för näringslivskäl. Snarare liknar det den bittra spektakel av tjurfäktning, som har lidandet för varelser som inte har någon verklig chans att försvara sig mot sina angripare. Familjer av djur dödas varje år på detta sätt, till skratt och självgodhet av tittarna. I namn av en stor del av mänskligheten, för vilket dessa historiska vanor är upprörande och obegripliga, ansöker vi med all respekt att omedelbart stoppa göra vad ni gör. Vi ber er lagstifta en förbjudning av detta massaker riktat för tillfredställa sadistiska och gryma aspekter av den mänskliga varelsen. Jag skulle uppskatta väldigt högt ditt tillfredsställande svar på denna begäran.

Or translate yourself here.