This petition is being sent to Prime Minister Johannesen, PM of the Faroe Islands, The President Of The International Whaling Commission, and David Cameron, PM of the UK, for the following reasons -

For too many years, the Faroe Islands, has been allowed to carry on a barbaric and meaningless tradition that involves the brutal slaughter of over 1000 dolphins and whales annually.   When it first began, centuries ago, it was simply for food.  That is not the case now, however.......

The hunters first surround the pilot whales (and others, like Dolphins) with a wide semicircle of boats. Then they drive the whales and dolphins slowly into a bay or to the shallows of a fjord. When a whale is in shallow water a hook is placed in its blowhole so that it may be dragged ashore. Once on land or immobilized in knee-deep water, a cut is made across its top near the blowhole to partially sever its head. The dead animals are then dragged further to shore after the remaining whales have been likewise killed.

These intelligent, empathic, sentient & emotional mammals don't die instantly and suffer a long death in the red stained waters.

Despite continuing pressures from many sources, the Faroe Islands still continue to practice pilot whale hunts.  These hunts skirt the International Whaling Commission’s loophole allowing for the subsistence hunting of small cetaceans.

These animals need not be killed for the peoples of the Faroe Islands to subsist.  They already boast one of Europe’s best average standards of living thus having enough meat to survive is not a major concern of the populous.

These animals are hunted for the sport of it, that teenagers may deem themselves men by participating in the slaughter.  The high percentage of teenagers participating is an obvious cue to the true intent gleaned from these hunts.

 

Whilst it is true that many of the younger generation of Faroese are not pro Grind, this 'sport' is still very active.  If it does 'die out', it may take many, many years, without our help.

We are NOT against the people of the Faroe Islands AT ALL.  What we want to do is to stop this barbaric killing.  The Faroese are on the whole, are a gentle, kind-hearted nation - We need to help to educate them regarding why it's so important to stop these annual kills.

Of the animals killed, huge numbers of them will go to waste, their meat and blubber left to spoil on the beach or be tossed out to sea.  If these animals were killed for the express purpose of survival not one bit of that meat would have been allowed to go to waste.

 

That meat which does get harvested however is just as bad as the vast amounts left wasted.  Chief medical officers of the Faroe Islands themselves have reported that they recommend against ingesting pilot whale meat.  The meat itself contains high levels of mercury as well as PCB’s and DDT derivatives.  All of these toxins result in slowly poisoning the population while also leading to an uptick in birth defects.

 

These animals have a right to live.  They need not be hunted for subsistence where they have proven quite harmful to those eating the meat.  They have even less of a right to be hunted for sport, which is what the event is for most of the teenagers seeking a bloody passage into manhood.

 

What is good for the environment is also good for the Faroe Islands.  Please help to stop the killing of pilot whales & dolphins.

Please help to end this unnecessary and horrible slaughter - it is no longer necessary, it is barbaric, and the meat has been proven to be toxic, and for all other reasons stated herein.

Thank you.