Actress Pamela Anderson, along with a handful of other celebrities, are joining roughly 500 volunteers on the Faroe Islands in the remote North Atlantic, in an attempt to stop the mass slaughter of pilot whales.

“Operation GrindStop” was initiated to save more than 1,000 pilot whales, which are among the largest members of the dolphin family. Locally, the culling of the whales is known as a “grind.” Famed ballet dancer Sylvie Guillem and sailor Florence Arthaud, both from France, are joining the campaign founded by the environmental group Sea Shepherd.

In a practice which Sea Shepherd refers to as being a “brutal and archaic mass slaughter,” Faroe Islands fishermen herd the cetaceans into a bay using flotillas, and then hack them to death with hooks and knives. Many locals defend the hunt as being their cultural right.

Here is a graphic clip of a Faroe Islands grind in 2013:

Anti-grind campaigners suggest that while there was once a need for Faroe Islanders to hunt the whales for food, that need no longer exists.

Former Baywatch star Anderson commented, “This is not for survival. There are very few things that happen like this that are so brutal. We have to put this behind us and move on, and let the whales swim freely. And I think it’s much more important for us in the future to save our oceans and the biodiversity of our oceans that the whales are very important to.”

In related Faroe Islands news, back in November of last year, a putrefied whale carcass that washed ashore exploded in a biologist’s face, as he attempted to cut into the 45-foot mass of dead meat.

Here is the rather graphic clip:

Incidentally, the Faroe Islands are an island group and archipelago under the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. The total area of the remote land is approximately 540 square miles.

The islands have been a self-governing country within the Danish Realm since 1948, and have taken control over most domestic matters over the years. Still, like with most protectorates, Denmark handles military defense, policing, justice, currency and foreign affairs.

Here is an excellent documentary on the Faroe islands:

Image via YouTube