Cruise Lines Shun Faroe Islands to Protest Whale Slaughter

[Omaha Steve]

Environmentalists applaud German companies’ decision to stop sending tourists to the site of an annual slaughter of pilot whales.



(Photo: Reuters)


http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/08/10/cruise-ship-companies-protest-faroe-islands-whale-slaughter?cmpid=tpdaily-eml-2015-08-10

AUG 10, 2015David Kirby has been a professional journalist for 25 years. His third book, Death at Seaworld, was published in 2012.

Meet the whales’ newest protector: the cruise industry.

Executives at two major German cruise lines—Hapag-Lloyd and AIDA—said Monday they would stop sending their tourist-packed ships to the Faroe Islands in protest of the annual slaughter of pilot whales in the remote North Atlantic archipelago known for its stark beauty and bloody traditional hunts. The move is a blow to the islands’ tourism-dependent economy.

“Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is committed to treating flora, fauna, and the marine ecosystem as well as all its creatures with respect,” Karl J. Pojer, the company’s chief executive, said in an email. “We protect what fascinates us—it is therefore high in the interests of the company that whaling on the Faroe Islands is stopped.”

The cruise lines also cited a new Faroe Islands law requiring anyone who spots whales to report the animals to local officials as a reason to take the destination off their ships’ itineraries.

FULL story at link.

[geek tragedy]

1. being fanatical in their dedication to animal cruelty seems to have backfired nt