"The Cove" , about the annual dolphins slaughter in Taiji, Japan, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. However, the movie has only been screened once in Japan, during the Tokyo International Film Festival in October.
Reaction from the town is a combination of "We're not doing anything wrong" and "It's none of your business what we do" with the added refrain of "We're protecting our cultural traditions" which is already familiar to anti-whaling activists and the like. Due to a media blackout, most Japanese people don't even know the hunt happens, but will the movie's increasingly high profile (It's even becoming
a TV show) and the negative publicity force a change?
More details on the making and content of the movie.
[more inside]
posted by donkeymon
on Mar 9, 2010 -
91 comments
It's the season once again for the
annual dolphin drives in Japan, the appallingly
cruel (see "Les massacres" video) practice of herding into shallow waters and brutally slaughtering these highly intelligent, self-aware and emotional creatures. There are
those trying to stop it, and should you be so inclined, you can sign their
petition.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Nov 20, 2006 -
62 comments
Dolphin intelligence is under fire, but are these arguments over brain size relevant in the face of
overwhelming behavioral evidence? Dolphins have been known to display almost all of the qualities which we would consider uniquely human, qualities that we would consider a mark of ‘higher’ intelligence. They are
tool users, they are
highly creative (perhaps even
artistic), they enjoy recreational and
social activities, from surfing (either
on waves or around the
prow of boats) to
sex, and they have proven
time and
time again that they are
self-aware. They’ve also formed symbiotic
relationships with fisherman, and recent reports suggest that dolphins even have
names for each other. But perhaps Douglas Adams said it best in the
Hitchhiker’s Guide: “Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much... the wheel, New York, wars, and so on, whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely the dolphins believed themselves to be more intelligent than man for precisely the same reasons.”
posted by heylight
on Sep 4, 2006 -
44 comments
Oh my (nasty and bizarre but not graphic or pornagraphic, in that it isn't intended to stimulate... or isit?)
A male dolphin could snap your neck in an accidental thrust, and that would be the end of that relationship.
posted by Phantast
on Jul 20, 2005 -
63 comments
Dolphin minesweeper returns from being AWOL Tacoma, the dolphin whose disappearance generated so much discussion
last week (I take that back, 20-odd comments hardly counts as "much" on MeFi), was found safe and sound near Umm Qasr. Are military dolphins subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice? This at least calls for an Article 15.
posted by TheFarSeid
on Apr 3, 2003 -
9 comments
“Takoma,
the Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphin, had been in Iraq for 48 hours when he went missing on his first operation to snoop out mines… Takoma has now been missing for 48 hours and the solitary figure of Petty Officer Whitaker could be seen yesterday patting the water, calling his name and offering his favourite fish, but there was no response.”
posted by raaka
on Mar 29, 2003 -
21 comments
