The Cove Movie

We recently watched an amazing documentary called: The Cove .

The Cove begins in Taiji, Japan. Taiji is a town that appears to be devoted to the wonders of the playful dolphins and whales that swim off their coast. But it’s actually well-known as a whaling town and is considered as the birth place of Japan’s traditional whaling method. Taiji has it’s dark secrets!

In a cove surrounded by wire and “No trespassing” signs thousands of dolphins are killed every year. Taiji is a major center for dolphin drive hunting. When dolphins are spotted, they’re driven into a bay by the fishermen while banging on metal rods in the water to scare and confuse the dolphins. When the dolphins are in the bay,they close it of with nets so they can’t escape. The next day the dolphins will be killed one by one. They sell the meat. Besides that they also capture dolphins for the entertainment industry.

The documentary is not only about the slaughter of dolphins, it’s also about the government covering it up and allowing fishermen to sell mercury-tainted dolphin meat.
Ric O’Barry, former dolphin trainer, joins forces with filmmaker Louis Psihoyos and the Oceanic Preservation Society to get to the truth of what’s really going on in the cove. While pretty much everyone (fishermen, police,…) in Taiji is hot on their trail they recruit underwater sound and camera experts, special effects artists, marine explorers and world-class free divers who will all be involved in an undercover operation to photograph the off-limits cove, while playing a cloak-and-dagger game with those who would have them jailed.

Watch the trailer:

I’m not an activist but this just really shocked me!