Saturday, December 27, 2008

Faroe Islands, Sea Shepherd, and whaling

The Faroe Islands (Faeroe Islands) located in the North Atlantic, roughly between Norway and Iceland. These islands have been an autonomous province of Denmark.

The people of these picturesque islands traditionally gather their food from the sea as many island inhabitants around the world do. Part of their sea sustenance comes from hunting whales. Recently a scientific body issued a report detailing large amounts of mercury can be found in whale meat. Surprise, surprise! Since whales live longer than most sea creatures, it is only natural they would have a higher level of mercury than a creature with a much reduced sea life expectancy. Since children of these islands consume whale meat, a warning has been issued.

Captain Kangaroo of Sea Shepherd not one to miss a public relations opportunity, called the people of the Faroe Islands barbaric for feeding this whale meat to their children. However Sea Shepherd in their desire to save the children of the Faroe Islands has not yet sent their garbage scow with Cabin Boy and the girly men playing pirate to interfere with the whale hunts in the North Atlantic.

This timid reaction by Sea Shepherd can be traced back to the 1980s when Sea Shepherd did indeed attempt to foil the whale hunting by the people of the Faroe Islands. Sea Shepherd was met with hostility and some of the crew met with fisticuffs, Marquis of Queensbury rules not withstanding. The girly men took their garbage scow, left the islands and have not returned these twenty some odd years.

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