Supermarket chain sides with Sea Shepherd
against annual Faeroe Islands slaughter
German food distribution giant ALDI Einkauf GmbH & Co. will not renew purchase contracts between the Faeroe Islands and its 1,250 stores, saying it condemns the Danish protectorate for its insistence in carrying on the mass slaughter of Pilot whales and Atlantic white sided dolphins.
The company made the decision to terminate its business dealings with the Faeroes at the urging of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a longtime opponent of the slaughter. ALDI notified Sea Shepherd Germany director Hartmut Seidich of its decision in a fax dated April 15, stating that it will cease doing business with the Faeroe Islands at the expiration of its current contract for frozen salmon fillets.
In the annual "hunt," considered a sporting event, hundreds of migrating Pilot whales are diverted into shallow bays, where they are slashed and sawed to death by islanders wielding barbed spears and long knives. Indiscriminate islanders often include dolphins. International animal welfare and environmental organizations have universally condemned the slaughter.
"Worldwide, we are encouraged to see that the excuse of 'we do it because we've always done it' is increasingly coming to be seen as insufficient justification for barbarism," said Sea Shepherd International Director Lisa Distefano. "We commend Aldi on its principled and honorable stand, and hope it will hasten the day when the Faeroe Islands will decide to join the circle of civilized nations."
Sea Shepherd is the only organization who has gone to the Faeroes to drive whale pods away from the killing bays. A Faroese police attack on a Sea Shepherd vessel was caught on film by a BBC film crew making the 1986 documentary "Black Harvest," which first exposed to the world the sight of the Faroese energetically hacking Pilot whales to death in blood-red waters.
The Faroese have no subsistence need for whale meat. The Faeroe Islands
enjoy one of the most luxurious standards of living in Europe, and primarily
import their food, and are economically dependent on fisheries exports.
A boycott of Faroese fishery products by several European distributors
and grocery chains would be likely to bring the Pilot whale sport hunt
to an end.
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