Real Men Proving Themselves the Wrong Way
- Posted by Alex Ion in Animals
Nov 17,2008
What happens when a species is categorized under “least concern”, meaning there is no threat of being threatened? The answer is simple and you’ll likely get the idea by the time you finish reading.
The Faeroes are a group of islands in Northern Europe, between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, an autonomous province of Denmark since 1948. Every year, young boys trying to prove themselves as adults gather on the beaches for the Annual Dolphin Massacre. Apparently, the only way to let the world know about their “hairy chests” is by turning into merciless killers, luring the Risso’s Dolphin to the shores and …. you can see what happens.
A playful animal that only feels curiosity towards human kind, the Risso’s Dolphin is the slaughtered victim from a bad movie that is being played each year in the Faeroes Islands. Why would you kill an animal that wants to play? Why? Can they sleep after seeing the sea of blood and so many slaughtered souls? Do they build up statistics and ranks to see who’s the best killer? Do they race for the first position? Are parents happy with their “kids”?
Who’s to blame? I know that GreenPacks readers are smart and they can come up with their own answers. For me, it’s pretty obvious that the human kind is not as advanced as many think, if these kind of actions happen these days.
Denmark! Shame on you! Faeroes! Shame on you!
Though I’m not a fan of petitions, here’s one that I’m supporting.
If you think you can take it (be warned – high cruelty), there’s an image gallery after the break.
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13 Responses to “Real Men Proving Themselves the Wrong Way”
That’s a really lame ritual. Only pussies kill dolphins.
Real men kill stuff like (big) sharks and bears with their bare hands or, occasionally, a knife.
Men from the Faeroes = pussies with 2 inch *****
That’s all there is to say.
I agree on the last part, but can’t agree with the fact that you need to kill animals to be a real man. I don’t think that was exactly what you meant … but sure sounded like that.
Let me first say that I’m against the process of whale and dolphin killing.
At the same time, the Faeroe Island practices are not “manliness” tests in any way, and in fact you’ll probably find that the inhabitants of the Islands are incredibly “green”. This is especially true in their concern for the contamination of the oceans, which they rely on for food (Fish and, yes, whale meat).
Here’s a british documantary on the subject: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oou3N5ylvdI
The practice is incredibly old and part of the culture.
While you and I may not agree with the practice, please don’t frame it as a “manliness test” when that’s simply not the case.
Derek, thanks for bringing some light on the subject. I’m watching it right now!
Derek is right. I used to work with the Faeroese and they beach and kill these whales (I never heard of them killing dolphins) for food. It is a cultural ritual that they have been practicing for thousands of years. Since they are an Island in the Atlantic and pretty remote, they rely on the sea for food. Especially before refridgeration was invented. They even salt, dry, and eat the blubber. This is NOT a “manliness test.”
Think of what we do to cows. We hold them in pens, stun them, and then slit their throats for food. Tell me this is any more humane.
I’m just talking smack.
If this is a manliness contest where you just have to kill things, you could pick bigger and badder animals to kill. Tigers. Bears. Sharks. Ligers etc. Killing dolphins and bathing in their blood seems about as manly as killing kittens and puppies.
I’m sure they have some reason for doing this besides a test of manhood, food, whaling / hunting tradition etc.. but killing dolphins like this just seems stupid to outsiders. Thanks for the vid, Derek.
When I read your post I was thinking WTF! After watching the video I find nothing wrong with it. They give every person on the island a share of the meat for free. Its not like they slaughter the animals and just leave the meat to rot. No shame towards the Faeroes, shame on you Alex for condemning people who are practicing their culture as well as building community.
I hope you consider editing or removing your post.
Guys thank you for all the input. The petition site is from Care2.com and seeing the pictures you can get the idea of how outrageous the whole process seemed.
Thank you Derek and to all the readers who decided to share. Though I don’t like the outcome, I can look at it from a different angle now.
Thank you!
I am faroese and I have yet to see an accurate description of faroese whale slaughter.
So here are a few comments.
This is not any form of manliness test.
Pilot Whales are not considered an endangered species. So this is not different that slaughtering a cow, pig or any other mammal.
The whales live a free life and are killed as quickly as possible, so this should be considered ecological food.
It is a part of our culture to eat meat from pilot whales, and not any other type of whales. To ensure that we do not stress the population, we have regulations.
We eat the meat and blubber, and it is actually a delicious meal, although it has been recommended not to eat it to frequently, the sea isn’t what it used to be.
Please don’t project your emotions onto these animals. Even though they might seem cute to you, they are not different from pigs.
Lastly, I would like to appeal to the author of this article and future articles like this one. You probably have good intentions, but before you pick your battle, do some basic research and direct your effort where it actually does some good.
Thanks
Hi Kristian, you are right. My intentions were indeed good, and seeing the petition I thought it’s enough research.
It’s not an annual ritual, tt’s not Risso’s Dolphins, nor is it a rite of passage to adulthood. This article is wrong on so many levels.
I don’t want to preach to anyone about whaling; everyone is entitled to their opinion. Regardless, everyone would be better off if some amount of research was made before drawing conclusions as absurd as the ones in this article.
I have no doubt that your intentions were good, but in this day and age, seeing a petition is not research enough – especially a petition riddled with flaws and erroneous assumptions.
I saw the pictures , I saw the movie and the conclusion I draw was that you are lairs one way or the other. First you say that you depend on the whale meat for food but than you have under sea tunnels, on one hand you argue that it is your tradition and that everyone gets their share but most people eat it only 4 times a year, you tell people not to pollute your ocean but you have a big navy. you want to preserve tradition and raise sheep but you own 4×4’s, you live in hut’s but the kitchens have all the appliances of a modern world.
I say stop the hypocrisy cos it doesn’t take a smart man to see that all that is just a facade for a slaughter. Yes indeed people do sacrifice animals for food but there is never done on such a massive scale….show me where the entire town goes and kills tens of 10 tons animals. Give me a break. You have 48 000 people but you kill about 5000 tons of whale a year. After my calculation that means everyone consumes about 100 kg of whale meat a year. Well after that simple calculation you would have to eat at least ONCE a day whale. And I doubt you do that.
So stop the killing! Barbaric hypocrites.
ok… let’s see.. “would be better off if some amount of research was made before drawing conclusions as absurd as the ones in this article.” ..i’m sorry.. but are u blind or something? how can anyone do something like that? and then u go around and wonder how did we get so far that we have so many species disappearing 100 times faster than ever before! in 1989 there were 780.000 Risso’s Dolphins and now there are about 500.000. does that tell u something?
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