The
documentary film, “The Cove,” describing the cruelty of an annual
dolphin hunt that takes place in a small bay in Japan, recently won the
2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary.
For the filmmakers, the
efforts to end marine mammal killing and to protect the animals’
environment has been ongoing. Just before the Oscars award ceremony,
they teamed with vegan eco-activists to go undercover into a restaurant
suspected of selling whale meat, which is illegal in the United States
according to the Marine
Mammal Protection Act.
After a DNA
test confirmed that the flesh being served was from the endangered Sei
whale, the violation was reported to officials. The film’s director,
Louie Psihoyos, who had participated in the activity, said that the
exposure of whale hunting, like his film, is about saving the animals as
well as the biosphere that supports their lives.
Louie Psihoyos – Director of Oscar winning film The Cove (M):
We’re trying to solve the problem in one little cove, but it’s really a
microcosm of what’s going on in the oceans. With all the fertilizers
and run-offs and pesticides, it’s killing the oceans.
VOICE: “The
Cove” also exposes the fact that the dolphins being hunted are already
contaminated with mercury from the polluted ocean waters.
Those
hunting them use underwater sonar waves, which drive the panicked
dolphins into a small cove that soon turns bloody red as they are
brutally speared or knifed to death.
As it turns out, this
dolphin meat has some of the highest levels of mercury known in Japan,
with the potential to cause neurological damage, especially in children.
In addition, the dolphins that are not killed outright are captured and
sold into lives of captivity and isolation to entertain humans in zoos
and aquariums.
The film’s message is thus to raise awareness about these practices, which wreak harm to so many beings.
Louie Psihoyos (M): The
only way that we can save the life of a dolphin now is to prove that we
made his environment so toxic, that we can no longer eat them.
It
shows you the amount of respect that we lost for the animal and the
amount of respect that we lost for ourselves. We’re doing what no wild
animal will do; we’re fouling our own nest.
VOICE: We
congratulate and thank Mr. Psihoyos and co-creators of “The Cove” for
working to preserve our precious oceans and their beautiful inhabitants.
May we treat more kindly our marine friends and the vital seas that we both share and depend upon.
Louie Psihoyos (M): Be veg, go green, save the planet.
VOICE:
In a November 2008 interview with Ireland’s East Coast Radio FM,
Supreme Master Ching Hai addressed the issue of tainted dolphin meat and
once more encouraged the protection of all marine life for our
planetary survival.
Supreme Master Ching Hai :
Some Japanese scientists stated that these products should be taken off
the shelves immediately. And Dr. Palombi of Harvard University gave the
same advice to the Japanese government - that they should ban dolphin
fishing and they should ban dolphin meat selling in the market.
To
stop this destructive practice of fishing, the solution is the vegan
diet, no fishy stuff in our meals. Choose the life- and Earth-saving
vegan diet. Protect animals and the environment.
And pray that
all will heed the scientists’ wise counsel and turn to benevolent life
courses which will in turn offer a benevolent life on Earth.
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/in-sushi-sting-oscar-winners-nab-restaurant-selling-whale/19389362 http://www.france24.com/en/20100308-oscar-winning-film-makers-deny-japan-bashing http://eii.org/saveJapanDolphins/coveEmail11a.html http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/world/asia/20iht-dolphin.1.10223011.html?_r=1 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/30/world/main3772997.shtml