The documentary, The Cove, is in part responsible for what some people call “the 180” I recently took in life. Finally getting up the nerve and deciding to watch The Cove was a life changing experience for me. Prior to the release of this documentary I was completely unaware of the annual dolphin drive hunt that takes place each year in Taiji Japan.

I’ve heard many people say that they simply do not want to watch The Cove, because it’s sad and they do not want to see the slaughter of dolphins. To those people who are afraid and unwilling to watch this documentary, I say just take an hour and half out of your life, watch it and become educated! People watch violence in movies all the time, but when it comes to real life, there are many people who do not want to believe it actually happens. Don’t turn a blind eye to what really happens, take the time, and watch The Cove! I guarantee it will change your perspective on dolphin captivity.

This is a brilliant documentary and the lengths the individuals involved in the film were willing to go to expose the dolphin slaughter is amazing! For instance, going out in the middle of the night and hiding high definition cameras in rocks to record video from vantage points that would have never have been seen before. Sending free divers into the waters of the Cove to place under water cameras and sound recorders. The Cove is a combination of Mission Impossible and Ocean’s Eleven. A team made up of people with special skills, filming what was believed to be the impossible! Mission accomplished and ingeniously done!

For myself, The Cove was a catalyst for change in my life. I have since become more involved, by following the various campaigns currently on the ground in Taiji, who bear witness to the annual slaughter.  I have chosen to take a stance against the dolphin slaughter, by informing others of what is still happening in Taiji and will one day stand at the infamous Cove in Taiji to be a voice for the dolphins. And I will certainly never visit another aquarium, Sea World, Marine Park or swim with dolphin program again, if I had known what I know now I would have never visited any of these places in the first place.

Highlights of The Cove:

• Taiji appears as the Twilight Zone (in the words of Ric O’Barry) – the town appears to love dolphins and whales – there are dolphin and whale statues throughout the town, everywhere you look in Taiji there is an image of a dolphin or whale – when in reality they are responsible for the mass of slaughter of dolphins and whales each and every year
• The Dolphin Smile – is natures greatest deception – while that dolphin performing tricks for your entertainment has a smile – take a look at its eye and you will see the true sadness that hides behind the smile
• Only in Taiji can you go to a Dolphin Show and eat dolphin meat at the same time – that’s right they serve dolphin meat at the show. So while you are sitting there watching dolphins perform tricks your entertainment, you may also be eating that dolphins family member.
• Taiji is the largest supplier of dolphins to marine parks and swim with dolphins programs around the world – each dolphin can sell for up to $150,000
• The majority of Japanese people are unaware of the annual dolphin slaughter in Taiji – when one Japanese lady was interviewed in the film her response was “You’re lying? Are they eaten? Really, it is hard to imagine people eat dolphins.”
• Dolphin meat is distributed as whale meat and is not properly labelled – people think they are getting whale meat from the southern hemisphere when its really from the waters of Taiji
• The last 10 minutes of the film are when you see the real horror of Taiji – you literally see the water turn from blue to red, you can hear the dolphins cry as they are inhumanely slaughtered and see the true brutality of the dolphin killers. Each of these dolphins fight with everything they have and you watch as these innocent beings struggle to take their last breath and die
• One of the most powerful parts of The Cove is in the last five minutes, when Ric O’Barry walks into the International Whaling Commission’s annual meeting with a TV attached to his chest, showing every person in the room the reality of the dolphin slaughter each and every year in Taiji

The Taiji dolphin slaughter resumes every year in September … unless we stop it!

“Any single person can make a difference if he allows his passion to be expressed through action” Margaret Mead

Here is an extended clip of The Cove.

The Cove is a 2009 documentary film that analyzes and questions Japan’s dolphin hunting culture. It was awarded the (82nd) Academy Award  for Best Documentary Feature in 2010. The film is a call to action to halt mass dolphin kills, change Japanese fishing practices, and to inform and educate the public about the risks, and increasing hazard, of mercury poisoning from dolphin meat. The film is told from an ocean conservationist’s point of view. The film highlights the fact that the number of dolphins killed in the Taiji dolphin drive hunting is several times greater than the number of whales killed in the Antarctic, and claims that 23,000 dolphins and porpoises are killed in Japan every year by the country’s whaling industry. The migrating dolphins are herded into a cove where they are netted and killed by means of spears and knives over the side of small fishing boats. The film argues that dolphin hunting as practiced in Japan is unnecessary and cruel. The documentary won the U.S. Audience Award at the 25th annual Sundance Film Festival in January 2009. It was selected out of the 879 submissions in the category.

For the dolphins!