Ricky Gervais has denounced the “tragic” mass slaughter of whales in the Faroe Islands after disturbing video footage emerged showing pilot whales being killed.

Graphic footage captured and released by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) on Friday purportedly shows the culling of a pod in two hunts. The archipelago, which lies between Norway and Iceland, is a self-governing country within the Danish kingdom and has practised whaling for centuries.

The minute-long video was surreptitiously recorded by activists and shows whales being herded towards beaches, killed by villagers with lances and carcasses being lined up in blood red water.

Responding to the shocking footage, Gervais wrote on Twitter: “Tragic whale slaughter in Faroe Islands. It's good we've found a twin Earth because we're really f**king up this one.”

The comedian regularly takes to Twitter to campaign for animal rights and has launched scathing attacks against trophy hunters for trying to justify their “grim sport”.

The SSCS said over 200 dolphins were killed in two separate ‘drive’ hunts in Bøur and Tórshavn.

The SSCS said a number of its members were arrested for attempting to disrupt the hunt.

Wyanda Lublink, a spokesperson for the SSCS, said: “How Denmark - an anti-whaling member nation of the European Union, subject to laws prohibiting the slaughter of cetaceans – can attempt to justify its collaboration in this slaughter is incomprehensible ”