Thursday, February 4, 2010

Flipper

Recently i have started watching documentaries about wildlife, but in particular the film "the cove" and series like "whale wars".

The cove is a film based documentary, exposing the brutal killing of dolphins and small whales in a town called Taiji, in Japan. After watching this film... i felt angry. What gives us the right as human beings to take innocent animals out of their natural environment and brutally kill them with harpoons and axes.

The lucky ones are selected to perform for our entertainment in sea world and dolphin shows all around the world. Are they lucky though? Swimming around a minuscule tank of water with screaming people cheering and chanting...

Personally when i was younger, on a holiday to Florida with my family i visited sea world. At this age i was,( as every young person is) obsessed with them, They are cute, and friendly and have a permanent smile! Whats not to love... But its not till i watched 'the cove' i realised that they in fact aren't happy. Many aquariums cant keep their dolphins alive. Dolphins can stop breathing and 'commit suicide.'

In Taiji, the dolphins not selected are tied up to boats and taken round the corner and never seen alive again. The water turns from clear turquoise to blood red. They are slaughtered, mainly for their meat. Over 2000 dolphins are slaughtered each year.

Mercury spreads up the food chain into dolphins. (mercury released from factories etc...) When people eat dolphin meat the mercury enters their bodies at an alarming rate...in the town of Taiji, Japan (where 'the cove' is filmed) the people there contain over 10 times the national average of mercury in their bodies.

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