A Bangor woman who witnessed the aftermath of a “brutal” dolphin drive hunt that saw 100 bottlenose’s slaughtered is urging the Faroese to end the cruel tradition this World Dolphin Day.
Aileen McClenaghan travelled to the Faro Islands this summer with Sea Shepherd, which has been shining a light on the ongoing slaughter of more than one species of dolphin by islanders.
The marine charity has launched its first World Dolphin Day to mark the one year anniversary of the largest single slaughter of cetaceans in recorded history - when 1,428 pilot wales were killed in shocking scenes on the Faroe Islands on September 12, 2021.
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Aileen told Belfast Live: “This needs to be coming to an end for various reasons.
“The chief Faroese medical officer advised against eating the meat because these are top of the food chain animals that are absorbing all the toxicity from the sea. It’s not an issue that they need to have it from a food perspective and it’s a brutal tradition. The way they do it is pretty awful.”
While Aileen wasn’t there for the slaughter of almost 1,500 dolphins last year, she did bear witness to the aftermath of a bottlenose dolphin hunt at the end of this July.
She explained: “They drove a pod of a hundred dolphins into a bay and slaughtered them. We were able to go down and witness the dolphins being lifted up from the harbour and butchered.
“These were bottlenose... [which] are more Mediterranean so the Faroes would be at the top of their range. It was the time we had the heatwave and we think they extended their territory.
“It was the largest slaughter of bottlenose dolphins for over 100 years,” she added.
Aileen shared pictures of a pregnant mother and her unborn calf who were among those killed as well as a very young calf and its lactating mother, but we won't share them here because of their upsetting content.
“It was horrible to see, but you are there to do a job and record and you sort of go into work mode.”
The 53-year-old says those slaughtering the mammals drive the pod towards the beach, then use a hook to pull them ashore.
“They then use this type of lance device which severs the dolphins spinal chord, so it paralyses the dolphin and then they will cut the dolphin’s neck so it basically bleeds out and dies,” she explained.
“They try to do it quickly, but they have panicked animals who are very intelligent and are communicating with each other all the time. The ones at the front are being killed and the ones at the back [can see]... it’s very visceral. It’s just awful really and it is a tradition that is unnecessary really.
“What was upsetting for me... [was] I was looking back through the footage and you see the dolphins have numbers carved into their heads. They also have markings on them which dictate how much meat they have on them as well. They cut a window in it’s stomach to let the heat out and then it gets butchered.
“The whole pod was wiped out. It’s not sustainable really... we don’t have a way of recording how many cetaceans there are in the sea.
“You are taking out the top layer of predators which is going to effect the whole ecosystem beneath it.”
Sea Shepherd hope that by raising awareness of the danger dolphins face in places like the Faroes and Japan, that more will be done to protect the much loved species.
A spokesperson said: “Most people still don’t realize how many dolphins and pilot whales are killed every year in the Faroe Islands and elsewhere. Through World Dolphin Day, we can raise awareness and encourage more people to speak out against the slaughters.
“Help us make it clear to the Faroese – as well as governments and international organizations like the IWC – that the world is watching, and that we demand legal protections for small cetaceans around the world.”
The organisation has been on the frontlines of the Faroe Islands fighting against the grind for over 40 years.
They added: “The Faroese government assumed that, as usual, international outrage over the grind would eventually die down so they could continue as usual, killing an additional 100 bottlenose dolphins, 336 pilot whales, and 6 bottlenose whales in the past year.
“However, in the wake of the September 12th massacre, a new coalition of organizations and individuals from around the world has formed; all share a common mission to Stop the Grind (https://www.stopthegrind.org/).
“Meanwhile, Sea Shepherd UK’s volunteers have been on the ground in the Faroe Islands since May to investigate and document what really happens before, during and after the grinds, and to build alliances with locals opposed to the slaughters.
“This year, our crew has documented the dumping of dolphin and pilot whale remains into the sea, refuting the myth that ‘we eat everything’ and nothing from the grind goes to waste.”
“If we can’t conjure the will and desire not to harm one of the most beloved creatures on the planet, what hope do we have for protecting the rest of the natural world?” says Ali Tabrizi, Seaspiracy.
Viva! UK added: “One year on from the barbaric slaughter of 1,400 Atlantic white-sided dolphins on the bloody shores of the Faroe Islands and what’s changed? Nothing. On this first International Dolphin Day, Viva! stand with the Stop the Grind coalition and continue to urge the UK government to take meaningful action by severing its ties with Faroese dolphin-killers. Enough is enough.”
Fine out more about how Aileen is is helping to protect marine life here.
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