Watch 'The Cove'
We watched the documentary, 'The Cove', last night. I've never been so horrified in my life. Nor felt so terribly tainted by childhood trips to aquariums and dolphin shows.
As a diver, and a fairly educated individual (hey, I can admit to huge gaps in my knowledge!), I know there's quite a lot of unsavoury and illegal practices that goes on in regards to aquarium stocking. That people's demand for 'pets' or for food has an incredibly high impact on the natural environment and the wild population of species out there. It's one of the reasons I encourage the boycotting of that Chinese tradition sharkfin soup and try to eat sustainable meat and fish.
But THIS? This was just beyond any understanding of that implication.
I highly recommend everyone watch this, if you haven't already. But be prepared for very graphic and awful footage. It really gets to you. I'm not someone who anthropomorphises animals, but there's still an unemotional and rational argument that can be made for the wholesale (literally) slaughter of a species.
You can read a good review of it here.
And man, if I already thought that the politics of the IWC (International Whaling Commission) was farcical, I never realised to what extent the corruption.
As a diver, and a fairly educated individual (hey, I can admit to huge gaps in my knowledge!), I know there's quite a lot of unsavoury and illegal practices that goes on in regards to aquarium stocking. That people's demand for 'pets' or for food has an incredibly high impact on the natural environment and the wild population of species out there. It's one of the reasons I encourage the boycotting of that Chinese tradition sharkfin soup and try to eat sustainable meat and fish.
But THIS? This was just beyond any understanding of that implication.
I highly recommend everyone watch this, if you haven't already. But be prepared for very graphic and awful footage. It really gets to you. I'm not someone who anthropomorphises animals, but there's still an unemotional and rational argument that can be made for the wholesale (literally) slaughter of a species.
You can read a good review of it here.
And man, if I already thought that the politics of the IWC (International Whaling Commission) was farcical, I never realised to what extent the corruption.