07/05/2026
🚨TW: graphic images
⚠️ The grind has returned: Monday marked the first hunt of 2026, a grim reminder that this brutal tradition continues.
Every year, especially during the summer period, pods of pilot whales and other dolphins travel close to the shore of the Faroe Islands. This is when Faroese whalers hunt them, under the name of tradition. The Faroe Islands lie between Iceland and England, are slightly isolated from the continent, but easy to access, and quite wealthy. Although they are part of the Danish kingdom, they are exempt from certain European laws.
The hunt is called the grind, or the grindadrap. They kill the entire pod, which can be of hundreds of individuals, including juveniles, pregnant mothers and their fetuses, matriarchs, etc. The social networks of these species are highly complex, as they are highly sensitive and intelligent animals.
The grind from the chase to the kills is very brutal and can last for hours, where the animals are under a massive amount of stress until they are paralized with a spinal lance to be then bled out with knives.
This practice continues today because the Faroese believe it is their right to hunt entire pods that pass by, even though many see it as outdated. The main argument is whether tradition justifies killing highly intelligent and social animals in this way.
Monday, May 4th, was no different. They spotted the pod, drove their boats over, and pushed them into a bay to beach them. They did this by running their boats loudly and making noise to scare the dolphins. Dolphins stay together as one family, which makes the hunt easier and more callous. In that pod, they killed 125 pilot whales, not including fetuses, calves, and pregnant females. A few white-sided dolphins were also traveling with them and were killed. This pod cared for many individuals from a new generation.
The kill is meant to go fast, but as fewer people were on the beach ready with hooks, ropes, spinal lance, and knives, it took them over 40min to end the stress and suffering they caused to this pod. As always, it was messy: the sea turned red, and the cries of the animals echoed with the laughter of the people.
Later, they butchered them and gave the shares to community members who wanted them. The next day, the carcasses are then loaded into a truck and dumped from a cliff back to the sea or tugged by boat offshore.
This is the tale of Monday, the 4th of May, an ordinary day repeated countless times over the years.
What does Sea Shepherd do to end the grind? After many years in the field, we are, as we might call ourselves, experts in the grind. We know everything there is to know about it. The laws around it, the rules, the mistakes made, the devotion to the tradition, and other excuses. Therefore, we still put crew on the ground because we want to document every grind, no exceptions. None of these animals dies unreported.
After many diverse attempts to stop it and years of trying, we are now working closely with lawmakers and allies. A motion for a resolution has been proposed to the European Parliament to end the grind, and an Early Day motion has been made to the UK Parliament. The Faroes may look isolated on the map, but when it comes to exports and imports, they are very dependent on their neighbors.
For both motions, we demand that dolphins and whales receive the same protections as they do under international law. We call for a complete ban on the killing of mothers and calves, which, in practice, means an end to the grind altogether, since it is impossible to distinguish pregnant females from males. We also urge the EU and UK to condition their trade agreements on the adoption of these standards, along with several additional requirements.
This process is slow, but it is the strongest we have to end the grind forever. So the tale of the 4th of May 2026 will then become history, not routine.
Not all Faroese people support the grind, but many remain silent to avoid isolation, bullying, and harassment. We offer a safe place for them to speak—contact us at [email protected] for access. Many Faroese are empathetic and oppose this practice.
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