As soo many of you I thing the grinds in Faroe Islands need to come to an end. I however do not believe we will get this done by sending offensive messages to the people of Faroese, Denmark or anyone else. I do hope that by putting some pressure on EU countries we can try to get EU to condemn the killings and urge Denmark to help end these cruelties. Therefor I have written 2 letters (one for EU residents, one for worldwide use) that can be used to send off to EU ministers. Please feel free to translate the letters into your own language and to e-mail them to your EU ministers. The letter was written from the heart, it is not a scientific report, so don’t expect a long list of references to come with it 😉 I would however want to say one thing : I DO NOT want anyone adding abusive, offensive, rude remarks to it. If you feel that by being rude you will earn respect and help stop the grinds, please do not use my letters !

Should anyone actually translate the letter into his/her language I would greatly appreciate a copy so I can publish that one too.

A special thanks to the friends who have taken a few minutes of their tight schedules to read the letter and send me their remarks. 

Letter for EU residents :

Sir, Madam,

I am highly astonished over what has happened on the Faroese Islands once again recently  : over 150 pilot whales were killed in a grind.

I wonder why Denmark ( EU member country) supports these grinds and why other EU countries do not condemn this. The

killing of whales is after all not allowed in EU, and although the Faroe Islands are not a part of the EU, Denmark (with whom they  form the Kingdom of Denmark) is and Denmark enables the killings to continue by sending its naval fleet to the islands in support of the whalers.

Many EU countries (recently even Denmark did too) prohibit the slaughter without pre-stunning  for religious reasons (halal slaughter)  of sheep, cows, chickens and other land based animals, but when it comes to animals living in the ocean no one seems to care. Is it because we do not live in the ocean that we do not wish to see its importance ?

Since the population of pilot whales is data deficient, no one actually knows for a fact whether these animals are (at risk of being) endangered or not. Therefore, as long as no proper surveys by independent researchers have been conducted, the killing should be stopped.

The traditional argument does not justify the killings either :the world changes, people change and so do traditions. It is no longer necessary to hunt whales for food resource, the Faroe Islands import enough food not to starve. Traditions like slavery on big plantations, foot binding in China and many

others weren’t kept on because of changing perspectives.

Furthermore whale meat is not suited for food any longer because of the contamination of Methylmercury and other POPs due the increased ocean pollution of the last decades.

For all these reasons I would like to urge you to take a stand against the grind.

As a EU-citizen I want to make it clear that I do not agree with these cruel and unnecessary killings : NOT IN MY NAME, NOT WITH MY FINANCIAL SUPPORT  can EU member countries maintain their support.

Kind regards,

(Name) Veerle Roelandt

(Address)

(Country) BELGIUM

Letter for worldwide use :

Sir, Madam,

I am highly astonished over what has happened on the Faroese Islands once again recently  : over 150 pilot whales were killed in a grind.

I wonder why Denmark ( EU member country) supports these grinds and why other EU countries do not condemn this. The killing of whales is after all not allowed in EU, and although the Faroe Islands are not a part of the EU, Denmark (with whom they  form the Kingdom of Denmark) is and Denmark

enables the killings to continue by sending its naval fleet to the islands in support of the whalers.

Many EU countries (recently even Denmark did too) prohibit the slaughter without pre-stunning  for religious reasons (halal slaughter)  of sheep, cows, chickens and other land based animals, but when it comes to animals living in the ocean no one seems to care. Is it because we do not live in the ocean that we do not wish to see its importance ?

Since the population of pilot whales is data deficient, no one actually knows for a fact whether these animals are (at risk of being) endangered or not. Therefore, as long as no proper surveys by independent researchers have been conducted, the killing should be stopped.

The traditional argument does not justify the killings either :the world changes, people change and so do traditions. It is no longer necessary to hunt whales for food resource, the Faroe Islands import enough food not to starve. Traditions like slavery on big plantations, foot binding in China and many others weren’t kept on because of changing perspectives.

Furthermore whale meat is not suited for food any longer because of the contamination of Methylmercury and other POPs due the increased ocean pollution of the last decades.

For all these reasons I would like to urge you to take a stand against the grind.

As a (COUNTRY) citizen I would like to point out that the world is waiting for EU to take a stand against these unnecessary, cruel killings.

Kind regards,

(Name)

(Address)

(Country)

More info on the grind from a few different angles: Please give us your thoughts.