The new film, The Cove, profiles the dramatic efforts of a small group ofactivists to document and expose the annual slaughter of thousands ofdolphins in the Japanese drive hunts. This documentary exposes thesehunts in a dramatic action film that has received numerous accoladesand commendations from film festivals across the globe over the pastyear since its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah,USA in January.
Despite the international attention that TheCove has generated across the globe, where audiences are beingintroduced to one of the most cruel and inhumane hunts on the planet,the drive hunts continue. 100 bottlenose dolphins and 50 pilot whaleswere driven into Taijis infamous cove in September. The 50 pilot whaleshave since been slaughtered. Up to half of the bottlenose dolphinscaptured in the hunt have been taken alive for sale to aquariums inJapan. A number of others have reportedly been released.
Thedolphin drive hunts occur every year from September through April, andare a brutal reminder that we have a very long way to go towardssecuring a safe and humane future for all cetaceans. Japan has theworlds second largest number of aquariums keeping dolphins. WDCS callson the Japanese Associate of Zoos and Aquariums to end its procurementof dolphins from the wild, including the drive hunts.
The drivehunts in Japan are a devastatingly cruel practice that involves thecorralling of dolphins at sea and driving them into the confines ofsmall coves in Taiji and Futo, Japan. Here, they are slaughtered formeat or kept alive for sale to marine parks and aquaria across theglobe. This is not a subsistence kill but a small industry regulated bythe Japanese government. Yearly quotas for both villages are in thethousands, where small cetaceans of several species includingbottlenose dolphins, striped dolphins, spotted dolphins, false killerwhales and short-finned pilot whales, are taken. No drive hunts havetaken place in Futo since 2004 and the focus is on Taiji, where thehunts occur each season.
WDCS will continue to work for an endto these brutal drive hunts. We have been active in confronting thedrive hunts in Japan on a number of levels, from raising awareness ofthe hunts, taking part in peaceful protests and visiting Japan todocument them. We have worked with the marine mammal scientificcommunity to garner a public statement against these hunts, and helpedsecure a US congressional resolution condemning the practice. WDCS hasalso worked to secure the acknowledgement of the dolphinarium industryof its complicity in fueling the dolphin drive hunts through the demandgenerated by marine parks and aquaria that either directly, orindirectly, source live dolphins from these hunts. And within Japan, wehave developed an educational campaign with our Japanese colleagues toeducate the public about whales, dolphins and their suffering in driveand other hunts.
In the next few years, WDCS plans to expand itseducation program within Japan and continue its outreach work onlocation in Taiji. See our report, Driven by Demand and our website at www.drivenbydemand.org for further information and ways in which you can help.
WDCSand the Swiss organisation, OceanCare, also have recently had arepresentative in Taiji accompanying Ric OBarry, who stars in The Cove.During their visit to Taiji no dolphins were hunted there. Only daysafter Ric and his colleagues left Taiji, the hunts have begun. Pleasehelp us put an end to the dolphin killing in Japan by going to see themovie The Cove and taking part in activities to support it. (Please beaware that the film contains scenes that some viewers may find verydisturbing).
The movie opened in July and August in the UnitedStates, Australia and New Zealand, and will hit UK and other Europeanmarkets in October. Select international locations will be announced.Please follow the link below to find the location, dates and cinemasnearest you.
What else can you do? Find out more about drive hunts and WDCSs campaign. Send a protest letter to the Japanese Ambassador in the UK. You can also help our campaign to bring about an end to the hunting of dolphins in Japan by signing a No. 10 petition
The new film, The Cove, profiles the dramatic efforts of a small group ofactivists to document and expose the annual slaughter of thousands ofdolphins in the Japanese drive hunts. This documentary exposes thesehunts in a dramatic action film that has received numerous accoladesand commendations from film festivals across the globe over the pastyear since its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah,USA in January.