Nearly 700 dolphins killed in a single day in the Faroe Islands – just hours after Parliament removes their protection under the Animal Welfare Act.
By OceanCare
On Wednesday, 27th May, the sea turned red again: In one of the largest single-day killing events in the history of the Faroe Islands across two different species, nearly 700 pilot whales and other dolphins were killed in three separate drive hunts – just hours after the Faroese Parliament voted unanimously to remove whale and dolphin hunting from the protection of its Animal Welfare Act.
The timing is not coincidental. On May 26th, the Faroese Parliament voted 28 to 0 to redefine the Animal Welfare Act so that its provisions no longer apply to whale and dolphin hunting. Less than 24 hours later, one of the largest pilot whale drive hunts in recent memory took place alongside two other dolphin kills.
Nearly 700 animals killed across three locations
On the afternoon of May 27, 2026, whalers drove an estimated 402 pilot whales ashore at Sandagerði bay in the capital Tórshavn – the largest single pilot whale drive hunt recorded in the Faroe Islands in recent years.
The same day, two further hunts of Atlantic white-sided dolphins took place across the islands: around 150 dolphins were killed in Skálafirði, and another 132 at Streymnesi. It is also reported that some 12 pilot whales were killed and discarded from the Sandagerði hunt and may not be recorded in the figure given for there.
Hence, in total, close to 700 animals were killed in a single day: nearly as many as reported in the entire year of 2024 (748 dolphins killed). Images from the hunt show the bays’ waters turned red with the dolphins’ blood.
Pilot whales, despite their name, are in fact dolphins and, like all whales and dolphins, are highly intelligent, socially complex animals that live in close-knit family groups.
Severe suffering documented
Reports from the Faroe Islands indicate that it took hunters a long time to kill all the animals – dramatically extending the period during which stranded animals suffered in pain and distress. Some animals were reportedly stranded outside the designated killing area, further prolonging their agony.
The cruelty of every stage of this hunt – the chasing, the forced stranding, the killing – has been documented in detail in a recent peer-reviewed scientific paper published in Biology Letters.
A parliament that exempts itself from its own law
The legal change passed on May 26th is unprecedented in its cynicism. Previously, a legal challenge was in the process of being mounted, arguing that the Animal Welfare Act applied to whale and dolphin hunting. Rather than engaging with that challenge, the Faroese Parliament chose to rewrite the law – specifically and exclusively to exclude hunted dolphins from its protection.
The Faroese Whalers’ Association welcomed the decision, stating that whalers can now “go back to grind, without fear of being accused of violating the Animal Welfare Act.“
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