Environmental group Sea Shepherd says 14 crew members including one Australian have been released by Danish authorities after being arrested for trying to disrupt a traditional pilot whale hunt in the Faroe Islands.
In a statement, Sea Shepherd founder, Captain Paul Watson, said the volunteers "risked their own safety to put themselves between a pod of pilot whales and their killers".
"They are not criminals, but heroes. It is Denmark, an 'anti-whaling' EU member nation, that has acted in blatant defiance of the law by protecting this heinous massacre of whales," he said.
The activists had been attempting to disrupt the hunt and slaughter of a pod of 33 pilot whales known as the “grindadrap” or “grind.”
The killing method involves the mammals being forced into a bay by flotillas of small boats before being hacked to death with hooks and knives.
Large numbers of pilot whales are slaughtered each year in the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory within the kingdom of Denmark.
Sea Shepherd says six of the volunteer activists must return to court later today whilst the other eight must return on September 25.
The group says Danish authorities are still holding three Sea Shepherd boats, as well as all video and camera data cards seized from the crewmembers.
One of the boats was reportedly donated by Hollywood actor Charlie Sheen, who criticised Danish authorities over the arrests.
Share
