While the lazy-couch-potato-me was flipping through cable Television, I came across Oprah and saw the trailer for the documentary “The Cove”. The trailer was about Dolphin Hunting in Taiji a small fishing village in Japan. I thought it was one of those movies by overzealous Environment activists, but the trailer did not prepare me for this:
Hundreds of dolphins cordoned off and killed by a spear or by being hit on the head. The seawater on the cove turns bloody red as these dolphins are massacred. I am not an environmentalist but the way these Dolphins are being killed is horrible. In my mind Dolphins are lovable creatures, it’s unfathomable to hunt them like that. The only way I could describe it is like having your own pet dog for dinner.
“The Cove” has raised awareness on the slaughter of Dolphins but it has also sparked controversy and anger from the Japanese and other people too:
According to them the slaughter of Dolphins which to them is just another sort of fish is no different from Westerners slaughtering Cows or Pigs for their meat. This actually stopped me for a moment. This is true – the Whale and Dolphin hunting is a part of Japanese culture and they are hunting the Dolphins in their own waters where the westerners do not have any jurisdiction on.
But why does it break my heart to watch them being killed like that? Well for one, I watched Flipper. I grew up with the National Geographic and Discovery Channel’s documentary on Dolphins. And they all say the same thing: Dolphins are the Earth’s most intelligent mammals. Studies have shown that they have strong social bonds and that they have feelings much like a human being does. The permanent smile that they have is very endearing and their playful manner makes them more adorable. And let us not disregard the fact that from time to time we hear news about a Dolphin saving a human life.
I respect the feelings of the Japanese regarding the matter, more specifically the fishermen of Taiji. But I cannot deny the fact that I am heartbroken to see the slaughter of the Dolphins. I wish and I pray that a solution could be reached to address this though it may not be a problem to some, but it is still disturbing to many.
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