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Unfortunately home to grindadrap [0], one of the most cruel traditions in the world where hundreds of white dolphins are hunted with high speed motor boats and

• cenamus 1y ago
  Whaling is pretty weird these days. On the one hand you got Japan, which is well known for it, and on the other is Norway, with a similar operation, but remains pretty unknown. They also spend loads of money researching "beneficial effects of whale products" (or something along those lines), to justify the continued whale hunting
• bccdee 1y ago
  Whale hunting (and dolphin hunting) tends to come up any time the Faroes are mentioned, and I don't understand why it's such a cause celebre. I don't see how this is worse than any other form of hunting or fishing, and frankly I prefer it to most forms of animal agriculture. Industrialized whaling has done massive damage to global whale populations, but the Faroes are tiny and (to my knowledge) their hunting practices do not have a significant ecological impact.
  • rkomorn 1y ago
    It's probably because a lot of people see whales and other large sea mammals (and some large land mammals) as much closer to humans than say, tuna. I'm not going to argue about whether or not that's a correct take. And yes, there are plenty of very arguable inconsistencies (eg: eating pigs and cows is okay, eating horses is not) in how people look at animal consumption, but I don't particularly think that invalidates ethical concerns over whaling. (edited for missing words)
    • skummetmaelk 1y ago
      Just makes it look like people jump on the virtue signalling bandwagon when they espouse opinions that aren't broadly consistent with their actions. Like eating beef several times a week, but feeling compelled to bring up the killing of pilot whales in amounts that are not at all concerning from a species conservation point of view.
      • rkomorn 1y ago
        I don't think many people live entirely ethically consistent lives. I sure don't. That doesn't necessarily make every ethical boundary they try to have "virtue signaling".
    • kakacik 1y ago
      What do you mean eating horses is not OK, in Switzerland we have plenty of horse butchers, you can find horse meat products like salami in all bigger supermarkets. Its not consumed in same amounts as beef for sure, but its not shunned by most. And yes there is no logical reason to eat beef (especially calves if we consider the cuteness factor) but not horses, horse meat is even healtier.
      • ljlolel 1y ago
        Horses also eaten in Iceland
        • BlaDeKke 1y ago
          And Belgium.
      • rkomorn 1y ago
        I'm not sure how "it's okay in <country x>!" is really relevant, TBH. There are plenty of places where it's not considered okay by a significant portion of the population, so it's a pretty valid to use it as an example of an inconsistency.
        • codingdave 1y ago
          Cultural bias is definitely relevant in a discussion about why people do or do not choose to hunt and/or eat specific meats.
          • rkomorn 1y ago
            The point of horses was an example of an inconsistency. Saying "I have a counter example" doesn't create a relevant discussion. It doesn't make the horses example any less of an example of an inconsistency. Edit: not only that but the whole point of me bringing up inconsistencies was to say that just because they exist doesn't mean people can't have ethical concerns about whaling (or other kinds of animal hunting / farming).
        • 1y ago
    • hermitcrab 1y ago
      >eating pigs and cows is okay, eating horses is not This is the situation in the UK. Some people trace it back to chivalry, where horses were very expensive and mostly owned by the nobility. But I don't know if that is the real reason. Although it turned out that British people have been eating plenty of horse. They just didn't know it: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21375594 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21375594
      • graemep 1y ago
        I think it is because of the popularity of riding, people are used to seeing horses in that role. Not quite pets, but in a relationship to people closer to that of dogs and cats than that of farm animals.
        • hermitcrab 1y ago
          People ride horses in France, so I'm not sure that is it.
          • graemep 1y ago
            I know they do, but is it as popular and as much a part of the culture?
            • hermitcrab 1y ago
              Well the French invented chivalry (=horseman) didn't they? So I would say it was an even stronger part of their culture back then. But I don't know about now.
          • rkomorn 1y ago
            Being French, I feel pretty well informed when I say that not a whole lot of French folks want to eat horse meat, and the numbers are dropping over time. https://www.ouest-france.fr/economie/agroalimentaire/la-viande-de-cheval-disparait-petit-a-petit-des-assiettes-8716c078-36c1-11ee-a86b-79aa2cf45607 https://www.ouest-france.fr/economie/agroalimentaire/la-vian... and other articles appear to agree with me.
    • dkga 1y ago
      Curious contrast about eating horses. My grandmother used to live in a very humble area of my hometown and I was there often. One day, when I was a kid, there was this agglomeration in the main avenue in that neighborhood: people lynched the butcher because for years he sold everyone horse meat for cow meat, and eating horse is taboo in my region of Brazil. Years later, when I moved to Switzerland I was very surprised when I first saw packaged horse meat for sale in the supermarket right next to cow meat, pork, etc.
  • lastofthemojito 1y ago
    I think a lot of it has to do with how they do it. I believe a lot of other whaling operations catch and process whales at sea. In the Faroes, whales are driven into shallow water and killed near land in sight of people who aren't accustomed to such things. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45209587 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45209587
    • nhod 1y ago
      Traveling to other cultures involves being exposed to seeing things you aren’t accustomed to. In many ways, that is the whole point. I’m not defending the Faroese here (nor casting aspersions on them, either), more just saying that it’s your responsibility to research the customs of the places to which you travel, and to not go if you think you might not like what you see.
      • yard2010 1y ago
        It's also fine to say it's cruel as fuck. > "The squealing from the whales was horrible. They were putting hooks on ropes in their blowholes to pull them in and then hacking at them with knives."
        • bccdee 1y ago
          I actually don't think it's fine to hear someone mention another culture and immediately butt in to say how disgusting you think their dietary practices are, especially given that our culture engages in factory farming, which is far crueller and more disgusting. Whenever the Faroe Islands come up, people complain about whaling. Do people complain about factory farms any time (e.g.) France gets mentioned? No. Frankly, even as an opponent of animal agriculture, I find it a bit xenophobic.
• imafish 1y ago
  They are not “painfully slaughtered for sport”. They are killed and butchered by trained people only with specialized tools that minimize suffering, and the meat is distributed to all participants.
• Symbiote 1y ago
  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think dolphin hunting is not a tradition. It was not possible until faster motor boats were available.
• dheera 1y ago
  There are cruel practices in almost every country, including the US or [wherever you are from]. Society evolves over time. Different countries overcome different problems at different points in time, and the time differences are just noise on the grand timeline of history. The developed world has more or less eradicated slavery, but it was commonplace just 0.5% ago on the human civilization timescale. Some countries eradicated it at 0.4% and others at 0.6%.
• bazoom42 1y ago
  > one of the most cruel traditions Not as cruel as factory farming though. I find it weird how people obsess over grind when pigs are treated a lot worse at a hugely larger scale. Maybe the problem is it is out in the open?
  • mordechai9000 1y ago
    I think dolphins fall into the category of charismatic megafauna.
• halgir 1y ago
  I dislike Sea Shepherd as an organization, due to their distasteful methods (and personal bias, being a Faroese resident). But I spoke with several of their volunteers during one of their campaigns, and was pleased to realize that, as individuals, their hearts are mostly in the right place. Nearly all of them claimed to be vegan, which I feel does give you legitimate ethical grounds from which to criticize grindadráp. However, if you don't oppose the general consumption of meat, I don't find the argument against grindadráp compelling. It yields more meat per killed animal than most, and the slaughter itself is arguably no less humane than most commercial meat production (not a high bar, I admit). In terms of publicity, grindadráp suffers from being inherently more visible than commercial meat production. Personally, I think this is a positive thing. It confronts you with the fact that meat doesn't magically appear in a supermarket freezer - if you want to eat meat, then by definition a living animal has to die. The visibility of grindadráp has prompted conversations with my young son about where meat comes from, and the animal welfare consequences of eating it.
  • kulahan 1y ago
    Most animals these days are killed as efficiently as possible - a quick stun for chickens, a bolt through the skull for cows, etc. The problem with commercial meat production is pretty much always the mega-farms that have them in horrible conditions during life. It's just cheaper, easier, and results in tastier meat to quickly perform the slaughter.
    • NostraDavid 1y ago
      Note that "religious meat" can be cruel for certain animals as well. Chickens are still a quick stun, IIRC, but cows are brutalized - they basically slowly drown in their own blood, because of the way they are slaughtered to be Halal. And then companies try to push for more Halal meat, because there are fewer rules to account for, when it comes to Halal (great way for them to skirt the law, legally). The chicken supposedly tastes better, though.
      • trallnag 1y ago
        Should be banned. Too bad European countries are bending over backwards to accommodate just as backwards beliefs.
• GeoAtreides 1y ago
  That's the reason I will never visit the islands. I can't do much, but I sure can't give them my money