July 9, 2023

The Faroese whale killers do not care what the world thinks of them. Their utter contempt about international public opinion was on full display today as they drove a pod of pilot whales onto a beach in the Faroe Islands.

Not just any beach, but specifically the beach inside the harbor of the capital city of Torshaven, where they proceeded to do their viciously cruel and bloody perversions directly in front of the passengers onboard the cruise ship Ambition of the Ambassador Cruise Ship Line.  It happened to be in the harbor as the frightened pod of pilot whales were driven past the cruise ship onto the beach, where vicious men with lances, ropes and knives were waiting and eager to begin a bloody orgy of wanton slaughter.

The passengers did not even need to leave the deck. The brutally barbaric ritual of murdering these gentle and self-aware sentient beings was a spectacle they did not choose to witness. The horror unfolded before their eyes.

As they watched in repugnance, Faroese parents brought their children to the beach to gawk, giggle and laugh as Faroese men slashed and stabbed and plunged lances down the blowholes of screaming pilot whales as they writhed and convulsed in abject agony on the beach of the capital city of the Faroes Islands.

The brutality was so egregious that the Ambassador Cruise Lines issued a condemnation of the slaughter on their socials.

“Ambassador can confirm that the arrival of Ambition in Torshavn in the Faroe Islands today coincided with the culmination of a hunt of 40+pilot whales in the port area. We were incredibly disappointed that this hunt occurred at the time that our ship was in port. We strongly object to this outdated practice, and have been working with our partner, ORCA, a charity dedicated to studying and protecting whales, dolphins and porpoises in UK and European waters, to encourage change since 2021.

Sustainability is one of Ambassador Cruise Line’s core values, and we fully appreciate that witnessing this local event would have been distressing for the majority of guests onboard. Accordingly, we would like to sincerely apologise to them for any undue upset.”

Christian Verhounig, Ambassador CEO, said: “We are dedicated to supporting ORCA in their endeavours to collect data and to monitor whales and dolphins and we are extremely disappointed that this has happened after weeks of trying to open constructive dialogue with the Faroese government and Visit Faroes on these issues. We continue to educate our guests and crew not to buy or eat any whale or dolphin meat and stand against any profiteering from commercial whaling and dolphin hunts.”

This is a strong statement, and it should be followed up by Ambassador with a cancellation of further visits to the Faroe Islands.

There are people in the Faroes, good people who object to and abhor the murderous rampage of their countrymen, but many are bullied into frightened silence although a few have shown extraordinary courage in voicing their opposition.

Unfortunately, their voices are not strong enough to bring about change to a government that holds total contempt for world opinion.

Now that my hands are no longer tied by Sea Shepherd Global and SSCS, I intend to give the obscene murderous Grindadrap my full attention.

What can be done to stop people who have no shame, people who lack empathy, people devoid of kindness and compassion?

I think the answer is to speak the one language they absolutely understand, and that language is money.

We need to stop these cruise ships from visiting the Faroe Islands. We need to convince people to not buy Faroese fish products especially Faroese farm raised salmon.

We need to organize a campaign that strikes at the heart of what they really care about.

I’m talking about large posters in the London Tube, the Paris Metro and the New York Subway. I’m talking about giant boycott Faroese product signs in Times Square and Piccadilly. I’m talking about celebrities giving their voice to this crusade of compassion.

Today I saw the video shot by the shore volunteers and my heart was literally torn by watching a young pilot whale calf struggle to survive beside the viciously mutilated body of its mother. I could see he wanted to live, to experience life, to feel the joy of swimming free in the sea. That desire to live called out to me poignantly and deeply. I felt his pain, his confusion, and his fear. 

Just hours before he was swimming happily by his mother’s side when suddenly without warning he was being driven onto a stone beach before a violent mob of strange and angry men whose focused perverse desire to kill and inflict pain rippled through each intelligent creature like a strange electrical shock of fear minutes before the sharp blades ripped through their sensitive skin pouring gallons of hot blood into the cold sea.

Like the passengers on the cruise ship, I saw that scarlet shroud spread out across the blueness of the bay staining the sea with the life blood of an entire family of cetaceans, fathers, mothers, pregnant mothers, and children. 

Yes, I call them children because when I see the young calves, I see my own children and the abhorrence of the very idea that such an atrocity should be inflicted on them.

How can a sane and compassionate person exist in a world with such psychopaths capable of inflicting such a fearsomely appalling exercise in murderous horror?

The answer is that we can’t, and it is a combination of sadness and outrage that drives us to intervene in any way we can to end the pain. The pain suffered by the victims and the pain festering within us with every needless and unnecessary death.

They have no right to their lasciviously pernicious thrill. They have no right to their perverse gratification. 

This psychopathic barbarity must be ended if for no other reason than the preservation of our sanity and the need to respect our humanity.

Please comment on the Facebook page of the Ambassador Cruise Lines and urge them to say no more to visits to the Faroe Islands.

Photo: Although we arrived to late to stop the slaughter, our drones caught the scarlet shroud of blood with the cruise ship Ambition in the harbor.