In early July, graphic images of a huge, pale blue blotch-patterned baleen whale being butchered on a flensing deck in Iceland went viral globally on news and social media sites. The death of this 80-feet-long leviathan, with the distinct appearance of a blue whale, by Icelandic whaling company Hvalur hf, caused immediate and heated furore over this modern-day hunt.

If we were to explain this brutality to a twenty-first century child, it would be an unusual predicament and a distressing blight on our humanity and even a terrifying indication of our own plight. How did we become so short-sighted and why are a handful of nations, including Iceland, able to kill whales?