I can’t wait to see the new documentary The Cove, about dolphin hunting in Taijii, Japan. Here is the description from Sundance Film Festival: “…the town has a dark, horrifying secret that it doesn’t want the rest of the world to know. There are guards patrolling the cove, where the dolphin capturing takes place, who prevent any photography. The only way to stop the evil acts of this company and the town that protects it is to expose them…” The activists in the documentary sneak into the cove and put cameras in fake rocks to expose the hunters. It’s brave, it’s exciting, and it has the feel of a heart-thumping espionage thriller. Watch the trailer here: (WARNING: The trailer starts playing automatically.)
The cries of the dolphins at the end of the trailer just about broke my heart. Who would want to kill these beautiful, intelligent creatures?
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8 Comments to “Japanese Dolphin-Hunting Exposed in New Documentary”
johnklin wrote:
Cool, I just heard about this last week and was thinking about blogging about it. Looks interesting.
I also saw this segment on Nightline last night:
The End of the Line: A film reveals an appetite for some of the world's most expensive fish.
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8244274
Posted on 04-Aug-09 at 11:01 am | Permalink
Dan W wrote:
I sort of don't want to mean but this is a fairly old issue.
While it is interesting for people to make a film to re-”exposed” this hunt, I really have mixed feelings regarding animal activitists or their sympathizers, for many reasons. I get the same mixed reactions when viewing other similar documentary-styled films. I guess it depends how extreme it gets and how realistic the goals are.
Also, the screams of cows being slaughter for meat can also be a little dis-heartening. While there are also a lot of cries of protest for those animals too, the level of “feeling” for our common farm animals probably feels more different than these dolphins. At least that's the impression I get from a lot of people.
Posted on 04-Aug-09 at 12:27 pm | Permalink
LindaChan wrote:
Dan, you're right, it's not a new issue. But it's pretty neat that ppl out there cared enough to bring it to the forefront of ppl's minds. We all know dolphins (and other animals) are hunted, but to see it happen on video may just get us angry/passionate enough to do something about it. Like when Al Gore made his documentary, he wasn't trying to say, “Hey! I just discovered global warming!” he was trying to bring awareness to the issue and do it in a way we all could understand.
And if I ever heard one of those cow cries I'd never eat beef again.
Posted on 04-Aug-09 at 1:09 pm | Permalink
Asianmommy wrote:
NPR did a story on this the other day. I'd like to see it, too. It's sad that it's a true story, and not a dramatization.
Posted on 04-Aug-09 at 1:47 pm | Permalink
Tracy wrote:
I just about cried listening to the camera-woman weeping about what she saw (on Fresh Air). I know, there are a gazillion overwhelming tragedies going on at any one time in the world, so we have to pick our battles. I'm just glad for any attention this and any other issues I'm concerned about gets. While I try to live a life I can sleep about I'm thankful for those w/power and connections, to get the word out.
Posted on 04-Aug-09 at 2:42 pm | Permalink
nemogbr wrote:
For the moment, humanity is addicted to eating meat.
Till we all become vegetarians/vegans farm animals are necessary.
Hunting whales and dolphins do not qualify.
Posted on 06-Aug-09 at 3:49 am | Permalink
erika888 wrote:
Though I do think that whaling and dolphin hunting can be unnecessarily inhumane, we should also look at it from a race based perspective as well. The way animals are seen in other countries is very different from how they are seen in western countries, and often people seem to forget that.
Post as reference: http://utfreepress.org/2009/04/%E2%80%9Cwhy-do-...
Posted on 06-Aug-09 at 5:44 pm | Permalink
Dan W wrote:
Sorry to back to this old topic, but I haven't seen the movie yet.
I heard it was having some positive impact but not sure how much.
Is the hunting just as graphic as this video? I read that they stop not too long ago like a year or two ago for the sake of health concerns. Maybe Japan should go with this reasoning since it's culturally neutral.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5Wut0AxM_A
Posted on 02-Nov-09 at 3:51 pm | Permalink
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