Dan and I have wanted to see The Cove since we saw previews for it last year, and we finally watched it this past weekend. It was one the most riveting and heartwrenching documentaries I have ever seen.
I have of course been aware of Japan’s whaling for years now, as well as of how barbaric and dangerous it is to the ecological balance of the world. Still, it’s one thing to hear about it and read it on the news, and another thing to witness the actual slaughter.
I was ignorant, however, of the shocking proportions of dolphin hunting that goes on in the country, as well as of the fact that Japan is responsible for shipping out their dolphins to marine parks such as Sea World. What’s worse, they kill the thousands of other dolphins that don’t make the cut for their meat, which is mercury-laden and should not even have a place in the human diet.
The movie follows former dolphin trainer Ric O’Barry and fellow activists in their efforts to document and expose the dolphin hunting operations in Taiji in Wakayama prefecture of Japan. They elude the local guards and authorities to successfully plant video camera in the cove at which these dolphins are herded in, away from the public eye, to be butchered en masse. I was deeply saddened, angered, and ashamed by the horrific reality that was brought to light in this film, and towards the end I was fighting back both tears and nausea as the waters turned red from the bloodbath. I felt ill with guilt from having just come back from visiting Sea World last weekend, and from the sinking realization of what I had unknowingly supported. It’s tragic that due to cover-ups by the Japanese fishing industry, the majority of Japan’s citizens also remain uninformed and clueless of the human depravity in Taiji that results in the unnecessary and inhumane killing of 23,000 dolphins every year. Every year.
The Cove is a film that I feel that everyone must see. It is eye-opening and powerful… but most importantly, it is the truth. A truth that, though ugly, needs to be communicated to as many people as possible, so that the atrocious operations of Taiji can be permanently shut down. Please watch the movie, and find out what you can do to help.