Haunting images show the waters around the Faroe Islands stained blood red after locals slaughtered over 700 porpoises in a gory tradition known as the grindagrap, or “grind.”
The single-day massacre of pilot whales and various dolphin species — including 406 killed in Torshavn, the Faroese capital, alone — surpassed more than two-thirds of the 1,000 marine animals killed in the Faroe Islands in all of 2025, according to Sea Shepherd, a global environmental activist NGO.
The gruesome custom involves herding hundreds of Atlantic dolphins and pilot whales into shallow bays with hooks, forcing them toward the shoreline and killing them one by one.
While the tradition is believed to have begun after the Nordic settlement of the islands in the 9th and 10th centuries, the scale of the 2026 hunt is unprecedented in modern times.
This year’s slaughter was even more horrific because the hunters had a shortage of spinal lances — which are mandatory for killing dolphins in Denmark– leading participants to use whaling knives and other rudimentary tools to inhumanely kill the porpoises, according to the activist organization.
“Multiple marine mammals were instead killed using knives only leaving the animals stressed for an extended period before bleeding to death,” Sea Shepherd said in a statement.
“In scenes of prolonged animal cruelty, reports also suggest the lack of equipment and shortage of participants led to dolphins being crushed against rocks, driven over and cut by boat propellers,” they continued.
Spinal lances quickly sever the spinal cord and major blood vessels of the animals, causing rapid unconsciousness and death. Whaling knives, the blunt, broad alternative mainly used for carving fat, were also used in the 2021 grind, according to Ocean Fare.
In Faroese culture, marine mammals like pilot whales and dolphins are viewed as a renewable food resource rather than a species that should be conserved.
The Faroe Islands are an archipelago in the North Sea, governed as an autonomous territory of Denmark.
Sea Shepherd marine conservationist crews said they face possible deportation in the Faroe Islands for documenting the hunts.
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