We still eat whale meat in the Faroe Islands; I may still have some of this meat in the freezer. (Eat at most once a month, thanks to pollution.)
I have - as I usually do - enhanced the color a bit. See Sea of Blood for unedited hemoglobin color.
Red list: Lower risk/least concern. 2008 update: Now listed as Data Deficient. But please note that whaling is not listed among possible threats: anthropogenic sound, bycatch, entanglement in fisheries and competition with squid fisheries.
Update: added to the bluelist pool as a 'recommended travel experience'. But I can't really recommend planning on seeing a pilot hunt, because they are rare and random. The trip I was on - small boat out to Skúvoy and walking around on the island - is itself worth recommending. Then I must 'recommend' that you happen to be in the 3rd boat to join the hunt. (I've been living here for 18 years and seen 3 hunts so far.)
Then there is the question whether you want to see this.
(Foolish word play: The pilot whale is not on the redlist, it's on the bluelist.)
54 whales - totaling 395 skinn. About 20 tons of meat and 10 tons of blubber.
Weird: Linked to from Destroyer Porn + Carolina Drought
Used with permission in Ralph.
Used with permission at Blaque's Blog of Horrors - sad irony indeed.
Used with permission in Polarfronten 1/09.
Used without permission at www.lifeinthefastlane.ca/gruesome-whale-and-dolphin-blood...
Used with permission at societe.fluctuat.net/diaporamas/iles-feroe-le-mercure-sau...
seallyb, Kalidetron, qousqous, Lexiphanic, and 78 other people added this photo to their favorites.
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Jan Egil Kristiansen 6 months ago | reply
My grandfathers may have exterminated some big whale species, e.g. the blue whale. The jury is still out on that, and I regret the ruthless hunt that was happening before the IWC was set up to manage the hunt.
But the pilot whales are in no danger from this hunt. If they disappear, it will most likely be caused by industrial contamination. Or maybe if humans fish down the squid they feed on.
This is not so much about tradition - it is about one of the most sustainable meat sources in the world.
I only know of one human society that does not accept the killing of animals: The Jaini.
Inna_Z 6 months ago | reply
This world is mad anyway. Population of whales is not getting bigger. But humans population is getting bigger but not better each year. In supermarkets I see a lot of meet that is wasted because was not selt in time - if we count I hink this meet would be anough to feed all Faroe Islands. There is no organisation who really protects wild nature - because we do not have strict punishment for killing animals without reason. In real there is sad future for all of us. Every generation will see less kinds of wild animals around us.
bartekrainski 6 months ago | reply
Here is what Faroese kept doing in 1978... they were slaughtering Orcas, same way as they are slaughtering Pilot Whales today - SLOW, BARBARIC and PAINFUL death... Shame on You Faroe Islands
www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QbD0Z...
GLYNDWR2 - 50,000+ views!!! 3 months ago | reply
Disgusting - I don't care what any of you may say with "replies" (I won't bother coming back to see)............this is barbaric............the days of "hunting" like this should have long died out. Get into the 21st Century