Footage of the annual bloody slaughter of more than 200 pilot whales in the Danish-owned Faroe Islands in the north Atlantic has horrified the world.

The yearly event, called the grindadráp, sees locals luring the dolphins into the shore before jumping into the water and slaughtering them.

They used various weapons such as harpoons and knives to kill the dolphins across two beaches, Bøur and Torshav. They killed as many as 250 pilot whales, the Daily Mail reported.

The Faroe Islands, an archipelago between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Iceland and Norway, functions as a self-governing country, although military defence, policing, justice and foreign affairs remain the responsibility of Denmark.