Major turning point in the fight to end hunts that see dolphins and pilot whales driven into shallow bays and killed
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Campaigners have welcomed the first-ever animal abuse charges brought against dolphin hunters on the Faroe Islands this week. The island nation, just 200 miles off the north coast of Scotland, has seen more than 1,000 pilot whales and white-sided dolphins killed in hunts in 2025 alone.
Faroese police brought charges against a former district sheriff and other authority figures following police reports of a dolphin hunt taking place in the Faroese village of Hvannasund in June 2024. Such charges relate to the breaking of a law, in which 90 pilot whales were left in shallow waters for 27 hours – in danger of drowning and beaching – after killing more than 100 of their pod members.
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In addition, charges include details of injuries caused by boat propellers to many of the pilot whales killed in the hunt.
These hunts, known as the grindadráp or grind, take place in 23 designated killing bays across the island nation. The cruel practice sees pods of dolphins driven to shorelines by motorboats, before being killed using hooks and long knives on the shoreline.
While hunts are legal until the Faroese rules, laws impose some regulations on them. However, campaigners argue all aspects of the hunts involve unnecessary cruelty and impacts the pilot whale population around the Faroe Islands. Crucially, there are no kill quotas enforced – so those taking part in hunts can theoretically kill as many whales as they would like.
In an unprecedented move, the charges have led the Faroese Whalers’ Association to suspend further hunts in the northeast of the island until the legal case is resolved.
‘Growing numbers of people across the Faroe Islands community are appalled by these hunts and these new police charges show that those taking part in dolphin hunts and having no regard for the impact on marine mammals and the wider health of our oceans cannot continue,’ said campaign director for the Faroe Islands at Sea Shepherd, Valentina Crast.
‘However, we should not have to wait for the authorities to act. These hunts are senseless and cause untold suffering for animals. The Grind must end.’
What is the grind?
The tradition of killing pilot whales, and sometimes other dolphins, dates back to 800CE. Until recently, pilot whale meat was an important source of food – but now there is no longer a need for whale meat to meet nutritional needs.
83 per cent of Faroese people are in favour of the grind. Centuries of Faroese people eating pilot whales mean many view pilot whales the same as cows, sheep, pigs and chickens – as ‘food animals’.
More than 20,000 dolphins and small whales have been killed in the last 20 years. And based on statistics since 2010, an average of around 900 pilot whales and other dolphins are killed in the grind each year.
