"The Cove" Documentary (warning: long post)
Normally I don't push any of my political, ethical, or religious views and ideals on anyone. I do this because I don't like it when others do it to me, but something I watched on DVD the other evening compelled me to write this. I think word of mouth is one of the most effective ways to introduce important information, whether it's about a restaurant, an item, or many other things.
To start, I want to relate a personal interest in the subject of whale preservation. On my 7th birthday, I spent the day with my family at a place called "Patrick's Point" on the coast of Northern California near Trinidad. While birthday activities and gifts were all fun, the highlight and an incredibly potent moment was seeing my first whale right off-shore. It was a Grey Whale. Their pods migrate twice each year up and down the Pacific coast. September is when they move from Alaskan waters down to the warmer climate in Baja, Mexico for the birthing of their calves. Witnessing this one individual whale started a long passion with the animals and some of my first subjects in art. A mutli-school art contest happened during my 6th grade, and I won it using whales and other aquatic creatures as the subjects. In a sense, I owe some credit to whales for a lifetime of artistic expression.
Now on to the main topic. A documentary called "The Cove" was released in 2009 about a fishing town off the main island of Honshu in Japan called Taiji, where a large industry of capturing dolphins indiscriminately for potential sales to marine museums and aquatic theme parks around the world was happening daily. Some dolphins were sold, mainly the Bottlenose, for up to $150,000 each. However, the dozens of dolphins and porpoises that weren't lucky enough to be sold, and many of the captured animals were not lucky, then were forced by the fishermen in large groups to a secluded and highly guarded cove where they were slaughtered for meat. This was happening each day. Nobody knew exactly what was going on in the cove.
On the surface, this sounds like any other animal farming, such as cattle. But 1) The dolphins were caught from the wild, not raised; 2) they were being slaughtered inhumanely and secretly while "authorities" convinced the public that the animals were being killed quickly and as pain-free as possible; and 3) dolphin and porpoise meat is totally unfit for safe human consumption due to rediculously high levels of mercury.
I won't go into details, but to sum up the basis of the documentary, a team of people secretly set up survailence equipment to capture the fishermen in the secret cove on film and in action. "Red-handed" would be a terrible and accurate pun. The team was led by a man named Ric O'Barry who, in the begining of the documentary, introduces himself as the man responsible for the world's need to use dolphins as entertainment. He caught and trained the original 6 dolphins for the TV series "Flipper". After some time, he detested what he did based on the relationship he had with the animals and vowed to dedicate his life to free as many captured dolphins as he could. Consequently, he's been arrested all over the world many times. As the film shows, this man has some major balls.
What compels me most about this documentary is more than just a deep emotional response to the despicable act of mindless destruction towards wild animals, but at what length people will go to for profits without any reguard to the impact that they are making on the world around them. This happens in every corner of the planet, from forestry to arms dealing to farming to the manufacturing of goods.
I work in the cattle industry. I don't kill the animals, but I help raise and take care of them. In fact, I was a vegetarian for more than 16 years because I chose not to create more of a demand for meat. All that I could imagine was feed lots full of suffering animals, desperate for their very lives and I wanted nothing to do with supporting that.
However, living and working on a cattle ranch where our herd, and all those of our neighbhors, is treated with care and respect. Giving them acres and acres of fields to roam freely, drinking pure water that's pumped from the ground or running in creeks, feeding on wild grasses and alfalfa, quickly made me realize that inhumane cattle production isn't all that exists, although it does. In fact, I think a wiser way to look at my vegetarianism would have been to know what I was buying, such as free-range animals, instead of ignoring a healthier, more humane approach to raising animals for consumption.
I'm lucky to be able to eat what I raise; organic, grass-fed, free-range beef. I would advise anyone who eats meat to be careful of what you're paying for and eating. This goes for anything you consume, especially produce. Many farms use pesticides and chemical fertalizers for cheap and easy growth of their crops. It's easy to understand that if chemicals are ON your food, they will also be IN your food. If your food is grown in soil poisoned with chemicals, it will be IN your food. If your meat has been fed on cheap, chemically grown grain, sometimes mixed with animal byproducts for even cheaper livestock feed, then it will affect the nutrients that you will be ingesting.
We all need to be aware of where our money goes. Are we buying products that cause irreversible damage, helping to endanger the survival of animal and plant species, destroying the health of ourselves and the world around us? There are alternatives and it's vital to know that the alternatives will become more available if they are supported on the most basic level; purchased by the consumer.
What "The Cove" made me think about more than anything, including the heartless destruction of animals, is we must all be as careful as possbile with our dollars. After all, money is what drives industries. It's our most potent and direct form of support. Please be careful, and be aware of where you spend your support.
To start, I want to relate a personal interest in the subject of whale preservation. On my 7th birthday, I spent the day with my family at a place called "Patrick's Point" on the coast of Northern California near Trinidad. While birthday activities and gifts were all fun, the highlight and an incredibly potent moment was seeing my first whale right off-shore. It was a Grey Whale. Their pods migrate twice each year up and down the Pacific coast. September is when they move from Alaskan waters down to the warmer climate in Baja, Mexico for the birthing of their calves. Witnessing this one individual whale started a long passion with the animals and some of my first subjects in art. A mutli-school art contest happened during my 6th grade, and I won it using whales and other aquatic creatures as the subjects. In a sense, I owe some credit to whales for a lifetime of artistic expression.
Now on to the main topic. A documentary called "The Cove" was released in 2009 about a fishing town off the main island of Honshu in Japan called Taiji, where a large industry of capturing dolphins indiscriminately for potential sales to marine museums and aquatic theme parks around the world was happening daily. Some dolphins were sold, mainly the Bottlenose, for up to $150,000 each. However, the dozens of dolphins and porpoises that weren't lucky enough to be sold, and many of the captured animals were not lucky, then were forced by the fishermen in large groups to a secluded and highly guarded cove where they were slaughtered for meat. This was happening each day. Nobody knew exactly what was going on in the cove.
On the surface, this sounds like any other animal farming, such as cattle. But 1) The dolphins were caught from the wild, not raised; 2) they were being slaughtered inhumanely and secretly while "authorities" convinced the public that the animals were being killed quickly and as pain-free as possible; and 3) dolphin and porpoise meat is totally unfit for safe human consumption due to rediculously high levels of mercury.
I won't go into details, but to sum up the basis of the documentary, a team of people secretly set up survailence equipment to capture the fishermen in the secret cove on film and in action. "Red-handed" would be a terrible and accurate pun. The team was led by a man named Ric O'Barry who, in the begining of the documentary, introduces himself as the man responsible for the world's need to use dolphins as entertainment. He caught and trained the original 6 dolphins for the TV series "Flipper". After some time, he detested what he did based on the relationship he had with the animals and vowed to dedicate his life to free as many captured dolphins as he could. Consequently, he's been arrested all over the world many times. As the film shows, this man has some major balls.
What compels me most about this documentary is more than just a deep emotional response to the despicable act of mindless destruction towards wild animals, but at what length people will go to for profits without any reguard to the impact that they are making on the world around them. This happens in every corner of the planet, from forestry to arms dealing to farming to the manufacturing of goods.
I work in the cattle industry. I don't kill the animals, but I help raise and take care of them. In fact, I was a vegetarian for more than 16 years because I chose not to create more of a demand for meat. All that I could imagine was feed lots full of suffering animals, desperate for their very lives and I wanted nothing to do with supporting that.
However, living and working on a cattle ranch where our herd, and all those of our neighbhors, is treated with care and respect. Giving them acres and acres of fields to roam freely, drinking pure water that's pumped from the ground or running in creeks, feeding on wild grasses and alfalfa, quickly made me realize that inhumane cattle production isn't all that exists, although it does. In fact, I think a wiser way to look at my vegetarianism would have been to know what I was buying, such as free-range animals, instead of ignoring a healthier, more humane approach to raising animals for consumption.
I'm lucky to be able to eat what I raise; organic, grass-fed, free-range beef. I would advise anyone who eats meat to be careful of what you're paying for and eating. This goes for anything you consume, especially produce. Many farms use pesticides and chemical fertalizers for cheap and easy growth of their crops. It's easy to understand that if chemicals are ON your food, they will also be IN your food. If your food is grown in soil poisoned with chemicals, it will be IN your food. If your meat has been fed on cheap, chemically grown grain, sometimes mixed with animal byproducts for even cheaper livestock feed, then it will affect the nutrients that you will be ingesting.
We all need to be aware of where our money goes. Are we buying products that cause irreversible damage, helping to endanger the survival of animal and plant species, destroying the health of ourselves and the world around us? There are alternatives and it's vital to know that the alternatives will become more available if they are supported on the most basic level; purchased by the consumer.
What "The Cove" made me think about more than anything, including the heartless destruction of animals, is we must all be as careful as possbile with our dollars. After all, money is what drives industries. It's our most potent and direct form of support. Please be careful, and be aware of where you spend your support.