The Cove

Intense documentary, not only because of what was recorded but also the mission that this people went through in order to document this unexplainable slaughter. I cant find any valid reasons for the dolphin slaughter and more when it is not even consume and mislabeled.

Many animals are slaughter in other parts of the world, according to the documentary in Chile they also do it but with bigger whales, blue whales. I believe that our actions should have more thought and reasons, in other words dolphin meet is definitely not necessary in kids lunch boxes, which also brings negative consequences since the dolphin is toxic, and what it is also important the education of society. In the documentary we saw people being interviewed about the dolphin slaughter and most of them didn’t have a clue about the situation; people need to know about situations like this because the change comes from the people, like the ones who took the risk and achieved this project.

Ric O’barry is a real figure to follow, how he started by training dolphins for water parks and then figured that water parks are not friendly with their animals. It is impressive how Ric O’barry personally decided to learn more about the dolphin industry and what was involved, and on actually take action although it was against the law. Social change takes time, and now days takes more time; policies, laws, and institutions are really not that great as we clearly saw in the documentary. Social change comes from individuals, like the few people that formed this team, and it is inspiring since now days people like that are not easy to find. 

It is great that documentaries regarding the environment and us humans are being spread out through the internet, many people are being educated about mayor issues in our planet and in a future that will pay off with a smarter generation. Personally, the most important part of the documentary is when Ric O’barry makes reference to the peace movement, because our world needs more of that type of people who take action.

 

 

Dolphin killings

This documentary The Cove, was not what i thought it would be. I didn’t really know about it before but i really enjoyed it. I have seen a famous photograph of a child in japan that had birth defects and the photograph was very interesting because it told a story that i haven’t heard. Dolphins being slaughtered in japan? The news of this has never reached me. By watching the cove, i now understand how bad the slaughtering is and how we need to act fast.

The United Sates is one of the strongest nations in the world, i feel it is our job to help stop this in Japan. Even though it isn’t our country and we cant really tell them to stop, the fastest way to get the word around it social mediation. When the government went under in Egypt, the words were spreading around the globe all because of facebook and twitter.

The cove really opened my mind to all of whats going on now in Japan with the slaughtering. I want to help and get more people to become aware of whats going on before all of the dolphins are killed!

The Cove

Personally I don’t feel much for Dolphins, I don’t really like or dislike them. As a kid I never wanted to swim with dolphins or had any desire to go to sea world. After watching The Cove I’ll defiantly never be going to sea world or any park like it.

At first I figured as long as the Dolphin bodies are being eaten or at least put to some kind of use then maybe the killings would be somewhat justified. Chickens are killed inhumanely everyday for the purpose of eating, I know Dolphins are a lot smarter than chickens, but this kind of animal abuse and killing seems to happen all over the world. When I discovered the Dolphin meat was not only toxic, but also mislabeled and sold to the public then I was pretty annoyed. Not only are they killed, but also their meat isn’t even worth killing them over, it a loose loose situation.

This sort of thing happens with milk in the US too, I feel like every country has some kind of product they like to pass off as healthy.  I watched a video last year about Bovine somatotropin, and injection used on dairy cows to increase milk production. When cows are given this drug there’s a 79% increase in a very painful utter infection, regardless these cows are still milked, the infection puss mixing with the milk. Because of these infections the cows are pumped full of antibiotics. Cow milk with a lot of antibiotics leads to people with too many antibiotics, which increases cancer risks. The injection is banned in Canada, the European Union, Japan and Australia yet most places in America still sell it. Milk is also pretty much the only beverage served in elementary/middle schools. Companies aren’t required to tell its consumers that their cows were given the drug so trying to avoid milk products with it is annoyingly difficult. Thankfully some companies have been standing up against rDGH.

I’ve also heard that the Japanese fish market is very wasteful. I found that “4.860 Tt of fish wastes are generated annually in Japan”. I feel that if Japan found a smarter way to sell and preserve their fish they wouldn’t have to sell the people dolphin meat?

I think we should all sign the petition to save Japans dolphins:  http://www.takepart.com/thecove It was the link given at the end of The  Cove video.

The poison within

While watching The Cover the one detail that really struck me was the explanation as to why there’s so much mercury in Dolphin meat. I had known eating a lot of fish could lead to mercury poisoning, but I had never really looked into it because I don’t eat fish and so I didn’t worry about it.

The first thing I found interesting about the mercury in fish was that the mercury in fish is higher than it used to be because of mankind’s impact. It is quite troublesome to think that it would be so simple to taint the wildlife we intend to eat. The idea that the level of mercury in the fish meat also varies by the level in the food chain that type of fish is also piqued my interest. The whole idea of it makes the idea of eating fish even less appealing. Dolphins being on the same level of the food chain as us just means that they’re even more dangerous to eat.

The maximum allowed amount of mercury in sea food is 1 parts-per million. This amount is used to make sure that people who like to eat fish can remain healthy. It was incredibly shocking that the dolphin meat had 2000 ppm. To think that people would be so unaware of just how dangerous eating the dolphin meat was. Not only that but they were shipping it out under false pretenses so people were unknowingly eating dolphin meat thinking it was something else. It’s hard to know if the men slaughtering the dolphins knew about all of this or not. That’s not something that was covered in the movie. They only really went over the mercury in the fish with the guy testing it and then with the two government people who were against giving it to the children. Mercury poisoning is a very scary thing especially because it seems like something that can happen very easily if someone isn’t well informed about how much fish they should eat.

August 2012 Peace Protest

After watching “The Cove” in class I was chocked about what was happening in Japan. I could not believe all the things that were happening in that one little area and dolphins being killed because the people wanted to make a profit.

I went looking around the Internet to see what has been done or going on about this problem. There was a lot of save the dolphin’s site and programs that want to help them, but then I found an article from newjerseynewsroom.com titled “Protest of Japan’s annual dolphin hunt set for NYC on Friday” published on Tuesday, 28 August 2012.

The article goes in to a brief summary of what goes on in that area of Japan were dolphins are slaughtered by the thousands or trapped and sold into captivity. Then it goes on to a peaceful protest on that following Friday, August 31, 2012 at the Consulate General of Japan in New York City.  The protest wanted to attempt to raise awareness to Japan’s killing and capture season of dolphins and to start a national discussion toward ending it.

Then it goes in to about Ric O’Barry, who was once a dolphin trainer but now a renowned activist.  He was the leading role in “The Cove.” He also founded  “Save Japan Dolphins,” which was a part of the Friday’s protest in New York.

From there the article goes in to the protest. Alan Howard, who is an administrator with “Save Misty the Dolphin,” headed the Friday peaceful protest. His organization had notified the Japanese Consulate and the Japan Society of New York City about the event and invited them, so that they can send representatives to speak with demonstrators. The protester had signs, posters and banners, flyers, postcards business cards with brief info on what is happening to the dolphins in Japan.

The protest in 2012, had nearly 90 cities around the world participating in it.

After reading the article I feel there is some hope for the dolphins but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.  It is still a problem.

The Cove

The Cove is documentary analyzing the dolphin hunting industry in Japan.  It showed not only the cruel practices of killing them but as well as its consequences for the natural ecosystem and the human species.

The film discusses the how the entertainment industry recruits thousands of dolphin for shows and how it has build a multibillion industry, which is hard to control. Those extremely intelligent animals are not meant to be kept in captivity. They communicate through sound and thus they are extremely sensitive to it. With so many people screaming, being loud and excited to see them, they get stressed and thus are constantly medicated. Knowing these facts the public should be aware of it and try to change the industry, however it so profitable and people are so selfish that nothing is being done.

Another issue that movie discusses, is the hunting of dolphins in Taiji, Japan. Every hunting season, around September, thousands of dolphins are attracted to the cove, to be sold to the entertainment industry or to be killed for its meat. The practices of the fishermen are not only uncontrollably decreasing the dolphin population but as well cruel.

Another aspect of the Japanese hunting industry is that they sell prohibited dolphin meat as whale meat, which extremely popular and pricy in the Japanese culture. Dolphin meat was prohibited because of its high levels of mercury, which is an extremely toxic substance for the human body. Furthermore the government in order to accustom its citizens to it, it has introduced dolphin meat at obligatory lunches at schools.

This movie shoes exactly how the high profit industries are influencing our lives as well as ruining the ecosystem caring only about the profits. Not only the inhuman practices are being widely accepted, they are also trying to make it legal which I find shocking and revolting.

What the World May Become: The Cove

I have bad news, but I won’t reveal it until I’ve put down a few of my thoughts:

Until having watched this entire documentary, I did not realize that I had seen a tidbit of it at the near end on animal planet (or the discovery channel), when the governments are having their conference about Japan hunting the whales and dolphins. What struck a chord with me, although I did not finish the documentary, was the statement given by one of the men (I think it was from one of the African men a part of the country Japan bribed).

Japan didn’t want to be pushed around by westerners.

This is a statement that has bothering me in my spiritual/psychological quest of inner peace. (As lame that sounds, I’m serious.)
At what point should we, as our nation or others, become involved in other countries business? Let’s say that we let Japan do whatever the fuck they want: kill all of the whales and dolphins, destroy coral reefs and chop down all of the trees from their forests. Do we try to stop them, warning them that their rapid consumption will soon leave them with nothing? Or do we give up and them obliterate everything, and, as a consequence, having nothing left to feed the growing world population? The latter would be a cruel option, considering that it would be unfair if Japan was left to kill itself by its own carelessness. But would it, like a sacrifice, be the eye-opener the human population needs and finally understand that we are taking too much and not giving enough back?
Here is an interesting event that is going to happen at the rate of destruction and over-fishing the human species will deal with soon: “Suddenly Jellyfish”

This is, I believe, Japan, dealing with a rising problem: Jellyfish. Their sudden multiplication has been blamed on global warming, a die-off of natural predators (sea turtles, manta rays, other fish probably). Some of the jellyfish, like the one pictured above, have been multiplying because fishermen were cutting them in half in an attempt to destroy them, but the simple animals survive and double because of this method (another instance of human ignorance ruining the environment).

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120405-blooming-jellyfish-problems
Now, more about The Cove. This is the bad news part, but I’m probably only revealing it now because I’m tired and the cynic inside of me isn’t in a good mood.
Dolphins creep me out.
You can blame Cracked.com for that and their articles about dangerous animals. Dolphins were #1 due to their almost too human natures. Not only being playful, but also being dolphin pup murderers and gang-bangers. This was pushed aside as a joke until hearing about a documentary being available on Animal Planet or Discovery Channel. Unfortunately I hadn’t seen it, so I don’t know the name. Here’s another article:

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/bizarre/news-bottle-nosed-dolphins-only-animal-kills-fun
Pet peeve: I hate it how it’s written in the title or anywhere else: “Humans are the only ones who (insert claim here)” and then people are surprised when animals have behaviors similar to ours. It would make since that we share similar behavioral patterns since humans are animals, regardless of intelligence.

To end it off, I’m going to awkwardly say that my favorite fact I learned from the movie was about the mercury poisoning. I thought the number difference was astounding, and it’s sad to see that Japan is repeating its own mistakes (The Minimata Disease) because of greed.

Are Dolphins even that profitable?

The Cove

The Cove was a heartbreaking documentary and it really opened my eyes to how intelligent dolphins really are (the dolphin watching Flipper with her trainer) and how poorly suited they are for captivity.

One thing I was curious about that the movie didn’t delve into further was a ballpark number of how many dolphins are slaughtered in Taiji annually and how the slaughter of dolphins affects the population near Japan as a whole, or if it threatens any species to endangered/extinct status. It appears they catch several species of dolphins, since the film mentioned how bottlenoses are singled out for being iconic, but I wanted to know how the slaughter was affecting the wild population and the environment (since it mentioned how Taiji sees it as “pest control” also). I wanted to know how often the drives were and an average number of dolphins killed per drive, as well as how many different species are captured.

I do question why the team working to monitor the cove couldn’t use a boat to sit offshore and spy/record rather than using a land-based approach.

The fact that dolphins sold for food contain deadly amounts of mercury was new to me as well. I’ve known that large fish like tuna are dangerous to eat very often for humans, and it makes me wonder if/how mercury poisoning affects dolphins as well, since they are such intelligent and complex animals.

Overall, while the movie was hard to watch at points and make me sad, I’m very glad it was made, as I had never heard of dolphin drives before and the movie also went into detail about the dangers we humans pose to dolphins. I hope in the future more can be done to stop this to not only protect the dolphins but also the people of Taiji and other Japanese people who may consume dolphin or wale meat.

The Cove Response

I hadn’t realized what “The Cove” was about when it was first announced we would be watching it in class last week. There was a moment of realization when the response to the movie mentioned was that of discomfort. I remember thinking, “Oh no, this is the movie where dolphins die. I don’t want to watch this!”

To be quite honest, I’m the kind of person who prefers to be unaware about certain subjects. Not because I don’t care, rather, because I care too much about everything. I know everyone sort of inherently loves dolphins, the way they’re always smiling and doing flips and everything is just too charming to ignore. But the second I learn any creature is in danger, I go into this weird mode where I’m partially overwhelmed by the desire to save them immediately. Then I get sad because I cannot be a multi-tasking activist saving the Himalayas, rainforests, Orangutans, seals, and now dolphins while also trying to preserve art…

Of course, watching dolphins be brutally murdered was far past “upsetting”. The set-up of the movie felt like a sort of action-spy movie that left me rooting for the “good guys” to successfully save all the dolphins. The last bit discussing the lack of younger activists coming forward to take a stand against the dolphin and whale hunting was tragic. Of course I want to be the one to take that step forward, to save the dolphins in the name of Flipper the dolphin. Realistically, I can’t.

The thing that bothered me the most about the film was, by no fault of the brave men and women who filmed this documentary, the lack of progress it seemed to make. Even though Ric O’Barry said they could take down the Taiji dolphin hunting by bringing it to people’s attentions, a quick google search shows that the dolphin hunting and selling is still prominent in the city. Even though it won the Academy Award along with countless other awards, earned over one million dollars, and opened many eyes, The Cove did not accomplish it’s ultimate goal of ending the Taiji slaughtering.

I don’t mean to sound like a pessimist here, but as a single sophomore studying advertising design, I fear there isn’t much I can do to change the situation.

Dogs Decoded

I find it interesting that dogs may have developed a variety of distinguishable barks just to be able to communicate with humans. How did they discover how we interpret certain tonations and pass that along to their offspring? It’s quite curious for something so human to become instinctual in dogs as well. Certainly, this is  related to how they’ve managed to survive among us for so long. I also found the discovery of dogs looking to the left first in order read a person’s expression, just as human’s do, to be fascinating. I suppose dogs adapted this behavior in order to respond quickly to human actions. This documentary touched upon how naturally/historically,  wolves and humans could benefit from the other. Both species revolved around a  social hunter/gatherer system, and both chose to hunt during the day. With humans leaving behind what was left of their kill, wolves were free to wait their turn, picking at the remains of the carcass for food. With wolf packs centering around the human hunting system, they were both bound to begin working with each other, not seeing the other as a threat, but as a friend to keep them going. A companion that would increase their ability to survive. If more species had learned how to adapt as successfully as the wolves had done, what other creatures could have developed today?