New Study Underlines Cruelty of the Faroes Pilot Whale Hunt

The most obvious evasive action is to swim away from the disturbance, away from the approaching vessels, but the boats keep coming right at them. The pilot whales’ overwhelming instinct when threatened is to stay close together and it is difficult for us human beings to understand how powerful this instinct is. Out in the open oceans staying together is their best security, their best defence from predators and other threats, and they are in effect ‘hard-wired’ to stay together even if this takes them into a life-threatening situation.

It is likely that the group that is now being herded by the boats roaring through the waves behind them has a lead animal, probably an older female. At some point – as the pod is steered between the islands that make up the Faroes archipelago towards one of the sloping shores designated as a ‘killing bay’ – she must realise the acute danger that they are in. Probably others, at least the adults, do too. But what is her choice now – swim back towards the deafening wall of sound coming from the vessels or move forward in hope of escape? Does she encourage her group to swim faster, does she call them to come even closer together? Does panic start to pass through the group as the boats swing around and now, hard on the whales’ tails, drive them into the shore where they force them to strand in the shallows? The shallows a totally alien environment for them, where the act of being stranded is itself immediately life threatening. Do they call out to each other for help and reassurance?

As a young student biologist some decades ago, I was taught that anthropomorphism – interpreting the behaviour of animals in human terms – was wrong. It was not scientific, and we should not do it! Animal behavioural science is more permissive if this now and it is acknowledged that this can be a reasonable starting point in efforts to understand the animal mind – as long as you recognise that their minds are not the same as ours. I don’t expect the mind of a pilot whale to be just like mine, but I do expect them to know fear, stress and terrible suffering in the Faroes drive hunts.

The suffering becomes more acute moving from the psychological to the physical once the whales are stranded, and a large hook is inserted in their blow hole (this is their nostril). This is attached to a rope, and this is used to physically haul each animal further towards shore, until they are firmly beached. The hunters then move from animal to animal driving a sharp implement called the ‘spinal lance’ into their necks one hand span behind the blow hole. This device is intended to severe their spinal cords and adjacent blood vessels.

The killing team moves swiftly from one whale to the next. Typically, every single member of the pod is killed: young and old, male and female (including pregnant individuals). The whales doubtless experience considerable pain from being stranded and from the insertions of the hook and the spinal lance. It also seems reasonable to assume that they have some awareness of what is happening to the other members of their pod – which is, in effect, their family.

Recently an independent welfare expert has published a scientific paper that takes a new and critical look at the entirety of the Faroes drive hunts. He reports that welfare concerns start with the driving of the whales and that the notion that the final killing method – the use of the spinal lance – is swift has not been proven. His paper is freely available. It is not an easy read but for those interested in this matter it is an important contribution. The author, Alick Simmons (not a relative of mine by the way), is a welfare expert, veterinarian and author with many years experience of working on welfare issues, including how livestock are looked after and killed.

So far this year, 591* pilot whales have been killed in the islands in five hunts. May 4: 40 pilot whales

• June 1: 138 pilot whales
• June 28: 233 pilot whales
• July 5: 90 pilot whales
• July 6: 90 pilot whales

Around 600-700 are killed there most years. OceanCare has long campaigned to end this cruel and unnecessary practice and we were pleased to be able to help Alick Simmons publish his review by paying the journal’s costs (which ensures it is now freely available to everyone). His independent evaluation reinforces our concerns, and we will now be sharing this paper widely with countries and the relevant authorities across Europe and beyond.

More information

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2024.1368524/full