In an effort to help end the annual slaughter of the pilot whales in the Faroe Islands of Denmark, I have contacted the International Foundation for Animal Welfare (www.ifaw.org). This organization, in their campaign to assist whales all over the world, has been putting most of their funds toward eradicating Japanese whaling. They, too, oppose the cruel slaughter of the Faroese pilot whales and recommend that, instead of signing a petion, a concerned person can send an email or letter to the Danish Ambassador in his or her country about this annual, brutal slaughter.
If you want to address the Faroese authorities regarding pilot whaling, the e-mail address of the Foreign Department of the Faroese Government is mfa@mfa.fo; The e-mail address of the Faroese department of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs is fisk@fisk.fo.
Please take the time to write these people and defend these helpless creatures. Tell the Faroese government to end this cruel, time-worn tradition once and for all.
Thanks for the info and your efforts Gay!
ReplyDeleteI do what I can to fight horrors like this all the time and one of my son's friends brought it to my attention and showed me a video which I couldn't finish watching. Sickening. I am posting the info you gave on my facebook page for all my wildlife loving friends and will be sending an email myself. .Thank you so much for showing us how to help!!!
ReplyDeleteDear Gay:
ReplyDeleteI am completely against this senseless massacre.
I am also against knee-jerk reactions that spread like wildfire through the Internet, without due care.
There's an email going around featuring graphic photographs, which was so riddled with grammatical and factual errors that I did some quick research to clarify things. Check out my blog, and you’ll see what I mean.
http://yardyyardyyardy.blogspot.com/2009/11/gotta-get-it-right.html
Don’t misunderstand me – I am very much against this outdated custom. But I warn those who attempt to change the Faroese mindset: it’s a total waste of time swearing and cursing etc. You need a considered approach, perhaps offering solutions, showing a mature understanding of their situation (not AGREEING with them at all – just being aware of their traditions and their thinking). Generate a global groundswell with reason, clarity, purpose, calmness.
As you correctly point out, people should write to the Faroes Government, NOT the Danish one (it’s not the Danes’ issue, it’s the Faroes’ killings). Aggression will only run off their backs and entrench their behaviour (they are after all descended from Vikings!!).
Good luck…read my blog and you’ll see what I mean.
I have read your blog and agree that the English used in the cited email is substandard, though I sense, through the word order and other details, that the writer is struggling with English as his or her secondary language. An email rife with such grammatical errors does absolutely no good for the pilot whales. The person had good intentions but loses all credibiity with the language problem.
ReplyDeleteOn another issue you raised, I agree to some extent: that we all react to this cruel and brutal slaughter with calm and consideration of the Faroses' tradition. On the other hand, though I don't advocate killing people, I do think that, in many cases, aggression and violence only understands similar aggression and violence. For example, bullies with a mind-set of nastiness and violence don't respond to reason; they only understand a socker-punch to the face. So,I do recommend people and organizations that benefit animal welfare, getting on boats, ships, yachts, or any other sailing vessel and going to the scene of the yearly slaughter and making it next to impossible for the Faroese peole to carry out this tradition. Protectors may be able to muddy the water with ink or cut nets, take grappling hooks, or simply get in the way--blocking things up: do anything to make the slaughter less of a celebration and more of a struggle for the people instead of the whales. Meeting aggression with aggression may be the only appropriate response to this massacre of innocent creatures. Afterall, this tradition has been occurring for years, and people have been reacting against it for years, too, only to find that the Faroese have become even more staunch in their efforts to continue the slaughter.
Such brutal traditions deserve to be banished in the name of civility and humanity. If it takes the Sea Shepherd, PETA, the IAWF to get involved at the site, and other people organized to take down the whale killers then that may make all the difference to these animals.
Please post your address here so that people have another way to write the
Faroese government.
Thanks for helping the whales.
Gay Balliet
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