250 Whales are Chased Onto Beach so Villagers Can Hack Them to Death

These are the horrific scenes after a mass slaughter of 250 whales in the Faroe Islands.

The pods of pilot whales were rounded up by fisherman on motorboats and chased inland to where hundreds of villagers were waiting to hack them to death.

Locals can then be seen smiling as they leap into the water in wetsuits armed with knives and harpoons to slab them to death.

The water around the mammals can be seen turning red with the creature’s blood throughout the massacre.

Young children can even be seen watching on from the shoreline.

Footage of the hunt in the archipelago was captured by activists from Sea Shepherd, a non-profit organisation committed to preserving marine life.

Five activists from Sea Shepherd were arrested while trying to stop the hunt while Ricky Gervais condemned the massacre on Twitter.

The killings on two beaches in Bøur and Tórshavn is part of an annual tradition in the Denmark-owned Faroe Islands called the grindadráp. The tradition dates back hundreds of years.

Whale hunting is illegal in Denmark but allowed in the Faroe Islands.