Oh Really?: The Cove

Sunday night, big poppa and I finally watched The Cove together. It was the most horrifying thing I have ever watched. For most of the documentary, I watched with my hand over my mouth as Japanese fishermen from the city of Taiji trapped pods after pods of dolphins into a small cove. Those that were deemed ideal for show were sold to dolphinariums/aquariums while the rest were inhumanely killed. The fishermen repeatedly stabs the dolphins with spears until the water is completely crimson red. I had tears in my eyes. I have tears in my eyes now. I was left feeling so angry that these barbarians could be so detached from any sense of emotion that they could slaughter these magnificent and intelligent creatures. To them, dolphins are merely pests. Mosquito's are pest. Not dolphins. It took me two days to calm down from the initial fury I had before I trusted myself to write a fair post. I won't get into any details about the doc or how it truly was deserving of the Oscar. You need to waatch it. What the film-makers and activists want viewers to take from this is to boycott against animals in captivity as well as to promote awareness of these dolphin drive hunts so that there will one day be a world-wide law against these types of practices. What it comes down to is that the Japanese feel that they should be able to eat whatever they want just like Americans eat what they want. And that's a fair argument. As a meat eater, I would be a hypocrite if I were to criticize them for eating whales and dolphins. But for some reason that I can't logically explain, it is just not the same. Dolphins are almost human! The thing I felt most guilty about was that I have contributed to this problem. Because of people like me who are willing to shell out the bucks to kiss a dolphin on the nose and have them take me for a ride, I'm helping to keep these animals in captivity. I know it's easy for me to lecture people about not going to Seaworld and swimming with dolphins beacuse I've already done so. As hypocritical as it may be, I'm still going to do my part and at least make people aware that these animals do not belong in these small pools. They belong in the ocean. I didn't know before. But now that I do, I will forever be against working animals. The day after watching the movie, I tried to find out how I can do my part to help. I made a small donation and you can too at the Oceanic Preservation Society's homepage. I also bought like $200 worth of The Cove t-shirts that I plan on giving out as birthday gifts. Proceeds will go towards ending the dolphin slaughter in Taiji. Text DOLPHIN to 44144 to receive updates on the cause. You can also add your name to a petition here. More importantly, watch the movie. And then tell everyone you know to watch it also. It's important that attention is kept focused on the dolphin massacre here, and in other parts of the world where this takes place. As Louie Psihoyos (director of The Cove and creator of OPS) stated, you're either an activist, or inactive. I wish I could do more. I hate the fact that I don't have the guts to drop everything and go out there and fight for what I believe in. I hate that I'm not strong enough to give up eating meat. I hate the fact that I was selfish enough to swim with dolphins not once but twice. I'm embarrassed and ashamed. I took down my post on Discovery Cove. Those kinda places just seem so evil to me now.

"The dolphin's smile is nature's greatest deception. It creates the illusion that they're always happy." - Ric O'Barry, Dolphin Activist