* On May 21st 83 pilot whales were killed at Bøur.

* On June 16th two grinds took place, with the massacre of 164 pilot whales at Tórshavn and 8 white sided dolphins in Skálafirði.

* On June 26th 157 pilot whales and 53 white sided dolphins were killed at Hvalvík.

* On June 29th, after being driven by hunters in speed boats for 16 nautical miles over four hours, 43 exhausted pilot whales were killed by hand in the shallow waters at Tjørnuvík.

* On July 5th, 70 pilot whales, including four pregnant females, were killed on the beach at Hvannasund.

How Sea Shepherd’s Fight Has Evolved

Since beginning our opposition to the grind over 30 years ago, Sea Shepherd has had our ships seized and our volunteers have been harassed, beaten, arrested, fined and deported. Not only have the Faroese officials changed the laws to protect the grind hunts and severely punish anyone who tries to protect the pilot whales and dolphins from being killed, to enforce these laws and make arrests they have enlisted the assistance of Danish officials, including police, navy, and customs representatives. While the Faroe Islands themselves are not members of the European Union, Denmark is, therefore prohibited from engaging in any form of deliberate disturbance, capture, or killing of cetaceans.

As part of Sea Shepherd Global’s Operation Bloody Fjords campaign to target the institutions supporting the grind, on May 8^th Sea Shepherd Netherlands officially submitted a request to the European Commission to launch infringement proceedings against Denmark for facilitating the slaughter of pilot whales and other cetaceans in the Faroe Islands.

To make it clear to the European Commission representatives that it’s not only Sea Shepherd who is against Denmark’s participation in the Faroe Islands hunts, we also submitted a petition signed by over 250,000 people from around the world who want to see the end to this crude slaughter.  

As of today, we’re still waiting for the EC’s decision. Although Sea Shepherd’s legal team, after two years compiling substantial evidence, has submitted a detailed and thorough report to support the infringement claim, we will continue to document and gather additional proof of Denmark’s illegal facilitation of the grind as long as the slaughters continue.

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