A man tries to kill a pilot whale as it thrashes about in the shallow water in Klaksvík, in the Faroe Islands on July 18, 2010. Cutting the spinal cord at the base of the brain, a quick but bloody process, kills the whales.

In the Faroe Islands, a protectorate of Denmark with 48,000 inhabitants, the 400-year-old tradition of pilot whale killing still takes place. Entire communities take part in the whale kill, known as "Grindaboð", and the meat and blubber is divided up equally between everyone in the village.