A friend posted about The Cove, a movie which starts screening in Singapore today. It is a documentary about a dark secret happening in Taiji, Japan. With hostility from the Japanese, the people in the movie had to film the footage secretly. Whether that is right or wrong is another issue.
The Cove highlights what is little known about how we actually get the dolphins which we see in the various marine theme parks in the world. Pods of dolphins are actually chased, hunted by Japanese fishermen and then driven into the cove in Taiji, Japan. Once there, nets are dropped to prevent the dolphins from escaping. Dolphin trainers from the marine theme parks will travel to Taiji to select dolphins which they think will be suitable for their shows. These dolphins can fetch up to US$150,000 each, a very lucrative business. The rest of the dophins (some 23,000 or 2,300 - I got different numbers from different reports, but in any case either numbers are too just too many!) will be inhumanely slaughtered, turning the sea into a pool of red.
The meat will be sold in supermarkets for mass consumption in Japan, and are even sold as lunches to the schools. Then two Taiji authorities actually tested the meat and found out the mercury content in them was way too high (5 to 3500 x more than allowed by health officials). So they are also slowly "poisoning" their own school children by making dolphin meat as part of the lunches. I don't know how long this practice has been happening, but when you keep reading about the violent outburst which has been happening with the Japanese youths, I start to wonder if that has a correlation. And people always wonder why cancer is so common now ~ it's probably all in the food (meat, veggies, seafood, fish, etc) we are consuming now plus the environment.
I have not watched the film yet but I do so intend to, even though I will probably bawl my eyes out. The director decided to make the movie a la Ocean 11 style, so it is like an exciting action movie, except it is real. It is happening in real life. So I think the film showed them putting together a team like Ocean 11 and to try to tell people what is actually happening in Taiji. The actual senseless killing of the dolphins is about 2 minutes in the film but apparently it is enough.
Make a difference. It may not be about dolphins, but it could be about other issues you are passionate about. What this film shows is really how if someone (in this case, Richard O'Barry ~ dolphin trainer for the famed TV show Flipper turned activist to save dolphins) is passionate about his cause and what he believes in, things can happen.
Already things are happening. It was reported last Friday that Broome shire in Western Australia has said it will sever its sister tie to Taiji, Japan. It bowed to pressure from people emailing and asking the Broome authorities to do something about the dolphin slaughter in Taiji after they watched The Cove.
More reads from various publications and reviews:
Taiji's terrible secret comes to light in The Cove - Straight
Broome to dump Taiji as sister city over dolphin slaughter - The West Australian
Taiji told to stop dolphin carnage or sister ties end - The Japan Times Online
Japanese Newspapers Write about The Cove for the First Time - Take Part Blog
Facts from Ocean Preservation Society which made the movie.
As with any issue, read more about it, do your own research and then form your own opinion. While I think it is great that we will get to know what is really going on with the dolphin trade, there are probably so many more things happening in the world that we are unaware of.
I am undecided if Aquariums and Marine theme parks are really evil. I think they walk a fine line between educating the general public about the marine sea life and mammals as well as being able to raise funds to continue its research and studies? I don't know, probably I need to go find out more about it.
For most people, such aquariums and marine theme parks (e.g. Sea World, Marineland, Ocean Park, etc) are probably where they first see dolphins and other marine mammals. However I do not agree with the shows now though I did not think much of them when I saw the shows when I was a kid. While the idea of "swimming" with dolphins sounds so cool, but when it is done in the theme parks, it is just another way for the parks to make money.
I learnt a lot when I was at Sea World Orlando. I took the "behind the scenes" tour where I paid extra so that I could be up close and personal with the mammals and also hear more about their natural behaviors, habitats and what Sea World is doing to help in conservation. Being young and like any park visitor, you would think that the handlers or park know what they are doing, that having small groups of visitors descending on them will not have any adverse effects on their well being.
According to Richard O'Barry, the trainer for dolphins, those dolphins who performed in shows are actually always starving. They learnt that if they do the "tricks" right, they will hear a whistle and get fed. Which is why you always see them being given food as a reward. The trainers called it positive reward, to O'Barry now, it was an act of cruelty. To starve the animals so that they will perform and entertain the visitors. And that usually it is the mammals/animals who dictate the timing of the shows as in they will go into the pool when they are hungry.
He could be right as I did remember some shows where an animal or mammal will start first and the trainer will say wow he sure is eager to start. Of course we will all laugh since we have no idea of what actually went on behind the scenes. If really they are not fed until show times, it sure is animal cruelty. I wonder how those animals in our own Night Safari, Zoo and Bird Park are treated.
There are dolphins in Vancouver Aquarium, and I have only been there once or twice in the mid-1990s. It never really occur to me to keep going regularly. Reading more about the Vancouver Aquarium, it seemed like the dophins were rescued after being trapped in nets, and they are scarred. One has lost a flipper after being tangled up in nets. It was rehabilitated and and kept in the aquarium to educate visitors. In this incident, then I think aquariums can play an important role. Save dolphins who are genuinely injured or trapped by nets, care for them and if they cannot be released back into the wild safely, then keep them to educate people.
The Vancouver Aquarium also has beluga whales. The tank is definitely much smaller than the vast ocean. I still don't really know how the aquarium got the beluga whale, but it has successfully bred beluga whales, with a calf born last year and another one this year. I think by now the beluga whales are so used being kept in captivity that it will be hard for them to adapt to the ocean.
Apparently there used to be an orca show at the aquarium though I don't recall seeing it at all. Maybe that was the year the activists has successfully forced the aquarium to stop the show and give up the orca. Living in Vancouver, I was actually blessed to be able to see the mammals in their wild habitats. That is, if you have the money to go for whale watching tours. Those tours do not guarantee that you will see them but you are just out in the open sea in areas where they usually travel.
I was on a trip once, and it was freezing cold out there. We had to wear thick jumpsuits provided by the operators and then we just wait. I did not see any whales then (maybe too early in the season in end April), but I did see porpoises, sea lions and seals. It was still amazing.
Some marine mammals become used to urban areas and will actually take the harbours and piers as their home. I would always drive to the Marina in Victoria, Vancouver Island just to catch a glimpse of the resident harbour seal. It is its home and the residents there just treat it as normal. Same for the famous Pier 39 in San Francisco where the seals have made it its home.
So I guess when it is a natural phenomenom, it is ok to go see them as long as we don't disturb them while they go about their everyday activities? It is only when people try to hunt, kill animals senselessly that is it bad?
It is a hard line to draw on what is right and wrong. I guess I have been rambling on but it sure has opened up questions and thoughts about animals/mammals in captivity.
Bottomline - go watch The Cove. If not for anything else, just for knowledge.
4 comments:
This is very sad...I like Japanese culture and all but I am divided on some of its reactions towards animals and other issues. Another thorny area is the war.
I personally have problems with what is good and bad when it comes to animals...Eating dolphin/whale meat is bad, mainstream fish is acceptable...some countries eat dogs, some take them as pets...probably due to their designated role in nature to feed other beings or be simply left to cultivate in their own community. It's about upsetting the balance of the communities and infringing into their designated role in the community that makes it a problem. If humans didn't intervene, would the community have been better...
Interesting though :)
Yeah, I agree. I think what horrified me was that they actively chased and hunted and then drove the dolphins into the cove to be killed. That goes for any animals which are hunted just for the fur, tusks etc.
But if the animals are breed for food, then it is not too bad though there are other issues also like injecting with growth hormones or cramped space etc.
I guess with commercialization and globalization, we are always affecting the environment and the natural habitats and behaviors of the animals and marine life.
I hope you will watch the movie :)
Thanks :) tons of films this week to catch too :) have a good weekend! :)
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