The Cove: Japanese Film Festival entry on hunting and slaughter of dolphins generates controversy

October 23, 1:23 PMAlbuquerque Travel ExaminerNeala Schwartzberg

Previous Next

3 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Albuquerque Travel Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Meet Molly at the Dolphin Research Center

AJ brings me a leaf - it’s a small offering but I see it as a gesture of friendship. Molly loves to carry around a scarf. She must be into accessorizing.

Both AJ and Molly, and their peers are lucky they live in Grassy Key Florida. If they lived in Japan, they might be slaughtered and sold to restaurants as the main ingredient for exotic dishes.

AJ and Molly are dolphins, living at the Dolphin Research Center and Japan is one of the very few countries in the world that permits dolphin and whale hunts.

Let’s be clear – these aren’t the fish known as dolphin that used to horrify prospective diners in restaurants across the southern states of the USA.

These dolphins are the air-breathing mammals who show empathy, intelligence, and loyalty.

Do I sound biased? Yes, I am.

The movie The Cove is being shown as part of the Tokyo Film Festival. It’s a graphic and by reports a bloody depiction of the annual dolphin hunt that takes place in the town of Taiji.

In his reviews of The Cove David Corbin notes that the corporate sponsors of the film were not happy with The Cove and pressed to have it excluded.

The film, Corbin notes, contains brutal and unforgiving footage of the dolphin massacre that happens annually in the secluded, police protected cove.

Plus, dolphin meat contains levels of mercury 20x greater than can be safely consumed, and is, according to Corbin, routinely packaged and sold as other fish.

The film was screened on Wednesday October 21st. As reported in the New York Times by Hiroko Tabuchi ...  "the film’s makers called Wednesday’s screening a coup, and a first step toward raising awareness of the hunts among the Japanese public."

So far there has been no change in policy, regarding either the dolphins, or the whales that are also part of the hunt. Tabuchi notes that the dolphin hunts will continue as planned, from September through February.

The reasons for the hunt are, not surprising, financial. Killing these mammals is big business. But with enough people saying “no” to dolphin and whale, and world opinion, and financial incentives, perhaps that will change.Tabuchi notes that film director, Louie Psihoyos, has offered to give Taiji the profits from any further screenings in Japan if it ends the hunts and switches to whale-watching or other businesses.

Perhaps Taiji will do that, and become a tourist destination -- the town that spared the whales and dolphins.

Until then, visit and learn more about the Dolphin Research Center in Grassy Key, Florida 

And when you do, say “hi” to AJ and Molly. Two dolphins that won’t end up on someone’s dinner plate.

Visit Offbeattravel for more offbeat places

Follow me on Twitter

(c) Neala Schwartzberg, all rights reserved

See the trailer -- and the town that wanted to shut them down. WARNING: graphic images