Recently released images were taken by volunteers from conservation group Sea Shepherd Global posing as tourists on the Faroe Islands (Picture: Sea Shepherd)

Newly released images showing bloody whale slaughter have once again created reactions worldwide – but the Faroe Isles continues to be proud of their ancient tradition.

The Nordic country has been an easy target for animal rights groups since anti-whaling activists started campaigning against their open whale-hunting, ‘grindedrab’, 30 years ago.

But now people on the island have been defending the practice.

Páll Holm Johannesen, government spokesman, said: ‘The meat and blubber of pilot whales are a cherished and valued part of the national diet and supplement to households across the islands.

The Faraoe Islands government criticised Sea Shepherd and said it will ‘go to any lengths’ to make the Faroese look like ‘sadistic psychopaths’. (Picture; Sea Shepherd)

‘It’s a natural part of the daily life in the Faroe Islands.’

He explained that the Faroese hunt, on average, 800 pilot whales annually, and that scientists have estimated that there is a whale population in the eastern North Atlantic of 778,000 pilot whales – of which approximately 100,000 inhabits the waters around the Faroe Islands.

He added: ‘The long-term annual average catch of pilot whales in the Faroe Islands represents less than one per cent of the total estimated stock.

‘It has long since been internationally recognised that pilot whale catches in the Faroe Islands are fully sustainable.’

Carcasses on a dock after a summer 2017 whale hunt in the Faroe Islands (Picture; Sea Shepherd)

Volunteers from conservation group Sea Shepherd Global recently released shocking photos from another blood bath this summer, to highlight ‘the continued barbaric killing of dolphins and pilot whales by Faroese.’

They said at least 198 Atlantic white-sided dolphins and 436 pilot whales were killed during nine hunts they witnessed this summer.

The government of the Faroe Islands responded: ‘Illegal and potentially dangerous actions by activists from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, combined with attempts to spread deliberately misleading information, have been the hallmark of the activities of this group for decades.

‘Sea Shepherd representatives will go to any lengths to paint a negative picture of the Faroese whale hunt as “unnecessary”, “evil” and “lunacy” describing Faroe Islanders as “sadistic psychopaths”, with the aim of inciting anger and outrage against the people of the Faroe Islands.’

The government said that each whale gave several hundred pounds of food (Picture; Sea Shepherd)

The autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark have hunted and eaten whale meat and blubber since the first settlers reached the island in the Viking Age.

The utilisation of small cetaceans is a legal activity in the Faroe Islands in accordance with The International Whaling Commission.

Mr Holm Johannesen said the government believes the controversy from activist around the whale-hunting comes from how open they are about it.

He said: ‘They have chosen an easy target, as whale hunts take place in the open for anyone to watch and document.

Though the pictures were taken in the summer, they have only now emerged. (Picture; Sea Shepherd)

‘There is no doubt that the whale hunts are dramatic and result in a lot of blood in the water. They are, nevertheless, well organised and fully regulated.’

The whale-hunting is a big part of the country’s economy and catches are shared ‘largely without the exchange of money among the participants’, according to the government.

They explained that each whale provides the communities with several hundred pounds of meat and blubber, which is a thick layer of blood vessels under the whale’s skin.

The spokesman said: ‘All meat, including whale meat, involves the slaughter of animals. Sheep farming, fishing, whaling and fowling have enabled the Faroe Islands as an island nation to maintain a relatively high degree of self-sufficiency in food production.

‘In the Faroe Islands it is considered both economic and environmental good sense to make the most of locally available natural resources, and to maintain the knowledge required to use what nature can provide in a harsh oceanic environment.’

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