The Cove: Japan Has a Dark Secret It Hopes the World Will Never See

Japan has a dirty little secret. Well, the sleepy coastal town of Taiji does, to be exact. There is a secret cove where over 23,000 dolphins (!) are being killed each year - the world’s largest dolphin slaughter. Banging on metal pipes submerged into the water, the fisherman’s boats (all in a line) terrorise the dolphins with a “wall of sound” which frightens them into the shore where they wait in nets over night before every one of them meets their sad inevitable fate.  While hearing footage taken underwater by the documentary team via ultrasound of the sounds made by the dolphins stuck in this cove, I swear it sounded like they were screaming. It is chilling.

This has now been uncovered in the film/documentary The Cove, an incredible suspense filled piece of work. One of the most powerful images for me from the film is when a single dolphin escapes and starts jumping the nets towards the shore, with a trail of blood leading behind. And then, he falls and never comes back up again. The killing cove turns a bright red with blood during the slaughter and that image is something I will never, ever forget.

To add to the scandal, dolphin trainers from all over the globe come to Taiji and pick out which dolphins they would like to take back to captivity at their dolphinariums to amuse us in dolphin parks and shows. These individuals can see exactly what is going on and apparently sometimes lend a helping hand. And these are supposed to be people who care and cherish these intelligent, communicative, intensely wonderful creatures. Okay, so I can see the merit in dolphins within educational environments as it educates and makes people love them which in turn, makes them want to support them. But the dolphins are dying to amuse us. Those dolphins who aren’t lucky enough (can we say lucky?) to be picked, will be gone forever within a few hours.

So how secretive is this? Very. Even the common folk in Japan don’t know this is going on. They also don’t know that the slayed dolphin meat is being pawned off in supermarkets and labelled as ‘whale meat’ when in fact, this dolphin meat (apart from the horrific practice in which they are captured and killed) contains extremely high mercury content. Anyone thinking the new Minimata?

One thing that made me angry was the excuse from the Japanese for what they are doing. The oceans are collapsing and they are blaming the whales and dolphins. The Japanese fisherman justified their act of killing these dolphins as “pest control” because the dolphins are eating all the fish. Are you freakin serious? Don’t you think maybe it has something more to do with human overconsumption and greed… we are constantly given warnings that fish are running out because us humans are so dependent on this constant influx of fish to feed our protein needs. I am sure the food chain and the cycle of life under the sea was doing just fine before humans started to take, take, take.

Honestly, how do these people sleep at night while they commit such cruel acts daily?

I feel really passionate about this and I felt upset after seeing this movie and will never forget the impact it had on me, which resonated for hours afterwards. I then spent the next few hours sending letters to my own government, the US government and the Japanese government. I give all credit to Richard O’Barry and his brave team who unrelentlessly put their lives at risk to have this story uncovered… by crossing barbed wired fences and keep out signs, diving under the water to document what happens there, and not being intimidated by the Japanese forces who aggressively wanted to keep them away from their secret.

Now the secret is out.

The answer is not to boycott Japan as a country. In fact, over 70 percent of Japan are opposed to whaling. They need to know what is going on in their country so that they can do something about it. We need to target the group of fisherman in Taiji specifically. Getting the word out will help shame the Japanese authorities into curtailing the slaughter, which will start again in September unless we help stop it! Once again, it is within our power to say, “Never again!”. Spread the word and let’s get this movie shown in Japan!!!

See this movie. Spread the word. Sign a petition. Write to the govt. Donate.
See this brave and provocative documentary and I promise you will want to do something about it.

~watch the trailer here, get the facts here, sign the petition here.~
please. help. before it’s too late.