Before I start I need to say that I’m not much of an animal lover. I had the opportunity to swim with dolphins (in the sea) a few years ago and swam back to the boat since my feet couldn’t touch the bottom and the prospect of something near me that could just as easily have been a shark was too much to bear. I was a vegetarian for many years and that decision had nothing to do with animals. So while I’m disturbed by animal cruelty, I’m not someone who would fight for animal rights.
The Cove is a documentary which highlights the slaughter of dolphins which is taking place in Japan. And this is not a cultural thing – many people don’t know what’s going on, there is no demand for dolphin meat, and in fact it’s often passed off as whale meat. So people are inadvertently eating dolphin. This is where the problem extends beyond the cruel methods used to kill the dolphins. Dolphin meat contains extremely high levels of mercury and those eating it are being subjected to mercury poisoning. Minimata disease is one of the consequences of this – something ignored by the Japanese government for over 30 years.
We were lucky enough to have the director speak to us after the film and he admits that the dolphin slaughter is probably not going to stop because of conventional protest methods. He suspects something random will happen that will place pressure on the government to stop this practice. He also advised seafood eaters to eat species lower down the food chain that contain lower levels of mercury. It was heartening to hear that one way or another this film will reach its most important audience – the people of Japan. There are a lot of influential people behind this film and he noted that money wasn’t an issue for them.
This NY Times article about the documentary explains it a lot better than I can. Go and see it! It has been very slickly produced and can be best described as an eco-thriller. Some scenes are gripping but be warned that others are disturbing and may not leave your head for a while.
