On the afternoon of September 13th, the Sea Shepherd crew was alerted by a local Faroese to a grind hunt of about a pod of around 60-70 pilot whales. There were 20 ships chasing the pod for multiple hours until finally driving them into the killing beach at Fuglafjørður at 5:04 pm.
There were only two grind foremen present for the expected pod of 60-70 pilot whales, however the boats had grossly misjudged the number: it was actually a superpod of 300-400 animals. What followed was one of the most chaotic and drawn-out grinds in recent history.
While waiting for reinforcements from neighboring villages to assist with the killing, our crew witnessed some 20 whales escape, although most of the pod remained trapped between the beach and the boats as they awaited slaughter. The killing lasted 85 minutes—one of the longest on record—with whales visibly panicked, juveniles crying, and many suffering failed or repeated killing attempts. Sea Shepherd documented the improper use of spinal lances, juveniles killed without being dispatched correctly, and whales left paralyzed but not dead, left to drown.
The official count was 285 pilot whales killed, but that doesn’t include juveniles, foetuses and incorrectly slaughtered animals, nor the multiple whales that got away or were left by the whalers. Saturday’s grind at Fuglafjørður is the 10th hunt of 2025, bringing the total to 992 cetaceans killed in the Faroe Islands this year.