I just watched an advance screening of The Cove in South Beach. The only reason I was there was because it was free. I hadn’t heard of the investigative journalism film before, nor had I heard of the subject matter.
Now I’ve been exposed, and I’ll never be the same.
Dolphins, precious descendants of my beloved Flipper, are being killed like sardines between September and March in Taiji Cove.
Some call it Kill Cove.
Ruthless Japanese fishermen with zero foresight and serious cigarette problems bleed these cetaceans to death, and it has nothing to do with their culture, their tradition.
Meanwhile, Mr Joji Morishita, the Japanese Commissioner at the IWC [International Whaling Commission], plays the quintessential villain with his effete hair, stylish eye glasses, and a litany of lame excuses that fail to justify the actions of his murderous fishermen.
Mammals are being slaughtered here, not fish but mammals just like you and me with high intelligence and an acute sense of self-awareness.
There is nothing humane about the way Taiji goes about this blood bath either.
These fishermen are unadulterated brutes concerned only with killing, smoking, and mocking the world for letting them get away with it.
They are barbarians, shameless and ignorant barbarians.
And the worst part about it: the dolphin meat – every ounce the Japanese fisheries sell in their dirty commodities market – is contaminated with mercury.
You heard me right: the meat they bloody the Taiji cove with six months out of every year is downright poisonous, and they feed it to their fellow countrymen for profit!
Like I said before, nothing to do with their culture or tradition. Just their rapacity.
O how greed warps the mentality of the feeble-minded.
Of the dolphins that are spared, they are sold for as much as $150,000 and made into theme-park attractions. In captivity, many perish from excessive stress and improper filtration.
Do not visit Sea World and everything related to Sea World. Do not take a vacation to places where dolphins and whales are held in tanks and jump through hula hoops. Spend your lucre elsewhere. Maybe swimming with the dolphins in the wild?
But The Cove isn’t about boycotting Sea World and everything related to Sea World. I’m getting off-topic. The Cove is about ending the massacre that happens regularly in Kill Cove, a quaint place on the coast of Taiji operated by a faction of dolts that is quite small and insular.
The film aims to bring peace to Kill Cove. To stop this barbaric war and save 23,000 dolphins each year.
If we can’t fix this problem that’s already identified and contained to Taiji Cove, how can we expect to fix anything?
There, I said it, and I’m still alive. In fact, I think I’m more alive for having said it.
Learn more. Spread the word. Get involved. Save the dolphins.