Fear children are ‘traumatised’ after witnessing dolphin slaughter
Faroe Islands locals say killing dolphins is an important cultural tradition, but outsiders have raised concerns it could be traumatising kids.
A series of confronting photos have captured a situation critics argue no child should witness.
One image shows a girl in a red puffer jacket against a blood-soaked wall in the tiny European village of Hvannasund.
She’s likely no older than 12, and she’s witnessing a Faroe Islands' tradition known as the grindadráp — which involves the capture and butchering of wild dolphins.
While children under 16 aren’t allowed to take part in the killing, they are allowed to witness it and explore the bodies of dead marine mammals. While outsiders could be disturbed by this, islanders say the grindadráp is a “community-based” natural way of harvesting food that is passed down through the generations.
Concern after child spotted kicking dead dolphin
The photos were taken on Thursday evening by activists from the Captain Paul Watson Foundation UK, after the killing of 44 long-finned pilot whales, a species of large dolphin. They told Yahoo News Australia “at least 20 children from toddlers to around the age of nine” were spotted walking among the bodies — some of them were reportedly unsupervised.
“Others were seen kicking a dead pilot whale. Another child was carrying around a piece of pilot whale that had been cut off for him,” a witness alleged.
The conservation group is a longstanding critic of the grindadráp, and chief among its concerns is the welfare of the dolphins. But after documenting children at the scene it expressed concerns about them seeing “scenes of trauma and cruelty” at such a young age.
“In no other nation would it be considered acceptable to expose children to scenes of trauma… we therefore call on the Faroese government to take the necessary action to protect its children in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,” group’s chief operating operator Rob Read said.
Faroese defend whaling tradition
Faroese locals have told Yahoo ongoing pressure from the outside will not stop their tradition. In July, whaler Jón Nónklett said he sees no difference between butchering a cow or a whale.
“They are big animals — there’s a lot of blood. For many people that seems scary, but for us that grow up slaughtering our own meat it’s just natural,” he said.
He was responding to criticism that British cruise ship passengers were exposed to the killing of dolphins when their ship docked at Tórshavn.
Two months earlier Faroese marine mammal biologist Bjarni Mikkelsen said if islanders ditch traditional foods and switch to burgers and Coca-Cola they could face new health issues like obesity.
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Health guidelines suggest children and pregnant women should not eat whale meat, and others should limit their consumption because of its high mercury content.
“It’s a very sad situation for the Faroese. We have a traditional food source that we get for free… but then it’s heavily polluted,” he said. “It’s not polluted in the Faroe Islands… it’s mainland Europe and globally. And then this pollution is concentrated in whales that we eat.”
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