Faroes, behold your Mother

Denmark, behold your Children

2010

Derecho Animal

Response from the Ambassador of Denmark in Chile the petition to stop the slaughter.

Santiago <sclamb@um.dk>To: "Santiago, Archive" <sclambuarchive@um.dk>date :24 de septiembre de 2010 asunto: Embajada de Dinamarca

The Foreign Ministry acknowledged receipt of your email, in which he expresses his feeling caused by an e-mail you received with images of alleged killings of dolphins in Denmark. Perhaps the images were accompanied by comments exaggerated and bizarre assertions such as that hunting is a ritual of maturity for young people.We noted that you have found the images above and accompanying text, disturbing.The images are fighters, not dolphins, but pilot whales in the Faroe Islands. The images are very selective and partially outdated. Apparently interested in the issue, so we recommend you find more information on the website of the unity of the pilot whaling in the Faroe Islands: www.whaling.fo. In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia on the Internet, find an article called "Whaling in the Faroe Islands" (Whaling in the Faroe Islands)

Continue Response from the Ambassador of Denmark in Chile the petition to stop the slaughter.

The facts you will find are: • The goal of the game is to produce food.• The hunt is regulated by the authorities.• The hunting is biologically sustainable.• The authorities take the welfare of the animal during the hunt very seriously.The Faroe Islands are an archipelago in the Northeast Atlantic. Island's economy depends heavily on the sea and its living resources. The Faroe Islands are an autonomy within the Kingdom of Denmark. Issues related to industry, agriculture, environment, fishing and hunting, are subject to the Autonomous Government of the Faroe Islands. If you wish to address feroenses authorities in regard to whaling, after being briefed on the specifics about the case, please consult the following email Faroe Government: mfa@mfa.foCarefully ROYAL EMBASSY OF DENMARK, SANTIAGOJACQUES Cazotte 5531 / Vitacura, SantiagoTLF. +56 (2) 941 5100, FAX: +56 (2) 218 1736 SCLAMB@UM.DK / WWW.AMBSANTIAGO.UM.DK.

Acknowledgment of receipt

AmbassadorRoyal Embassy of Denmark in Chile

We acknowledge receipt of the standard letter that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark invariably usually send people around the world seeking his intervention to end the annual slaughter of dolphins calderon, also called pilot whales, in the Faroe Islands.

The pictures referred to are not suitable for assumptions but whose actual killings are perpetrators in some cases are easily identifiable.To say that ¨ the images are very selective and partially outdated ¨ is absurd and not worth analysis and regret, they exist in large numbers.

Ancient ballads speak of ritual practiced by young men who demonstrate strong manly vigor to the girls who observe from the beach ... on the other hand say that "grindadráp" (hunting) is eagerly awaited because it is their joy.

Continue Acknowledgment of receipt

It is true that hunting is regulated by the authorities but does not specify that these authorities are Faroese and only Faroese. Nor aware of where they obtained the right to infer such suffering to living creatures do not belong to anyone but Nature.

Claiming that the authorities take very seriously the welfare of the animal during the hunt, perplexing again. Have dismissed the harpoon and the iron hook to take the knife, which is safer for the physical integrity murderers, and in a few seconds to shorten the agony of dolphins, is an extremely cruel joke It is useless to insist on the autonomy of the Faroe Islands, which, incidentally, is partial, since for much of the rest of the world are only Danish Faroese islanders always shared customs and traditions.

The joy eagerly awaited by the Danes

end Acknowledgment of receipt

It is not the first time we invited a walk www.whaling.fo and both you and we know that there is nothing to incriminate and as to correspond with the Faroese government mfa@mfa.fo, it does not seem interested in our opinions and unresponsive.

We also want to extend a cordial invitation to visit the internet where you will find interesting eyewitness reports of recent killings of dolphins calderon, pilot whales also called, performed in July and August 2010.

HERE IS THE TRUTHOn July 19, 2010 a group of 236 pilot whales died without mercy on the city of Klaksvik, Faroe Islands. Sea Shepherd was able to document the slaughter through the efforts of activist Peter Hammarstedt who lived incgonito among the inhabitants to obtain images of the slaughter. "Two hundred thirty-six whales pilot were killed last night in Klaksvik: adults, pregnant females, infants, juveniles and fetuses till attached to their mothers through the umbilical cord." Hammarstedt said. The Faroe Islands government says the death of these whales is painless, but what the new images show, tell the contrary. "One whale had five to six brutal chops to her head. reports Hammarstedt. Her death would have been slow and extremely painful. Some whales are hacked repeatedly for up to four minutes before they finally die."

"Unborn babies still attached to their mothers by the umbilical chord had been cut out of their mother's dead bodies and left to rot on the docks,“ - said Hammarstedt - "Pilot whale groups are strongly matriarchal; I can't imagine the fear and panic that these mothers must have felt as their families were wiped out in front of them."

Babies´s who were snatched from inside the bodies of their mothers

TESTIMONY

Comment by François Xavier PelletierFaroe Islands: The Graveyard of Shame

On August 5, 2010 at dawn, 83 pilot whales were murdered in a narrow hunting bay of the Faeroe Islands called Leynar. The bodies were then transported to the small harbor of Kvivik to be cut into pieces.

A month earlier, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society had sent me to the Faeroe Islands as an undercover operative in order to prepare for the Grind Stop Campaign, which was to be carried out on the Golfo Azzuro, a ship used by Sea Shepherd in partnership with the Brigitte Bardot Foundation. The goal was to save as many pilot whales as possible by interfering with any grind we might come across, and more importantly, to avoid any grind from happening in the first place by using acoustic repulsive devices that would scare the whales away from the deadly bays.

Continue TESTIMONY

When I studied in detail the 23 authorized hunting bays, I came to the conclusion that the next slaughter would most likely take place in Klaksvik. But I had to leave the Faeroes; my place during this campaign would be on board the Golfo, and I had to join this vessel in Holland. I would be onboard as an expert on the grind issue and a strategic consultant.

A few days after I left, Sea Shepherd sent another undercover operative, Peter Hammarstedt, to the Faeroes. While in Klaskvik, Peter was able to document the dead bodies of the 236 slaughtered whales in such horrifying conditions that this particular grind was even criticized by the Faeroese themselves.

With blood on his hands and soul

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I was not expecting a grind to happen in Leynar’s bay, which was too narrow and close to more important bays. And yet, within 10 minutes of someone spotting from his window a group of whales that had appeared in the bay out of nowhere, the animals were driven to the beach. Within 7 minutes at the beach, they had all been slaughtered. It happened so quickly that there was no time for the Golfo to intervene, but I wanted to know where all of the whale bodies wound up. So the next day, I went to shore with Lamya Essemlali, President of Sea Shepherd France and Grind Stop Campaign Leader. All of the village smelled like death; some pieces of meat were still there in garbage bags. Two trucks loaded up the remaining dead bodies and left. Without a car, we were unable to follow them. A fishermen was washing away the blood that was left on the ground. He asked us to follow him and showed us a whale’s head that was hanging from a rope at the entrance of the harbor. It was being used as vulgar bait. I felt revolted by this lack of respect. The next Sunday, at 5:00 in the morning, I was back onboard our small zodiac to dive and document what the Faeroese do with the bodies of the whales they have killed.

Everything in the village smelled of death

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I wanted to find the place where they throw the rest of the bodies to find out if the Faeroese tradition of eating all the whales that are killed is actually respected. We tried in vain to gather information that would lead us to a hidden whale graveyard, but the secret was very well kept.

Fortunately, a bit of inference together with a strange and almost mystical inspiration drove me straight to that specific spot, where at 24 meters depth, inside a crevasse, was a centennial pilot whale graveyard. I felt nauseous. The bodies of the 86 pilot whales who had been killed on August 5 were piled there. Their heads danced with the current. They almost looked alive, and I had the strange feeling that they were crying for help.

What happened to me down there was extremely strange. I knew no one on the surface would believe me, but I had the feeling I had entered a silent universe where the cetaceans cried out in despair.

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The scene was distressing. Fetuses were mixed with entire adult bodies, and there were a lot of young whales, too. It was such a waste that even hunters would not tolerate it.

Back on board the Golfo, I was in shock and yet more determined than ever to fight until we have put an end to this apocalyptic, anti-traditional slaughter. An entire pilot whale’s body was floating next to our ship. How can anyone believe that the grind is still a necessity?

This so-called tradition has become nothing more than a macho and bloody game that is meant to demonstrate one’s virility and impress the girls who watch on the beach. It is similar to bullfighting, and it is a shame for the Faeroese people, who can be so remarkable on other human, social, and even ecological issues.

By what right do this!

end TESTIMONY

In memory of an earlier time when the Faeroese had sunk my boat, flattened the four tires of my car, and thrown me in jail under the only accusation of filming the slaughter of pilot whales, I put a message into one of our acoustic devices that we left in the bay of Vagur where I was arrested. It read:

“Vagur, remember 1987. See you soon, François Xavier Pelletier.”

But tradition must not die

http://www.derechoanimal.uchile.cl

by Ligia Kamann R.