I sit in front of the TV in a blubbering mess, as the end credits scroll up letting me know that the multi- award winning documentary 'The Cove' (2009, Directed by Louie Psihoyos and produced by Paula DuPré Pesmen and Fisher Stevens. Written by Mark Monroe. Executive producer Jim Clark. Co-producer is Olivia Ahnemann in Association with Oceanic Preservation Society) has come to end.
This pain-stakingly true documentary uncovers the truth about what really happens in the humble little village Taiji, Japan.
Previous dolphin trainer for the famous 70's TV programme 'Flipper'–Ric O' Barry, has discovered the ugly truth about what happens to 100's of 1000's of bottle nose dolphins in Japan. Ric and his close friends from the Oceanic Preservation Society and various other helpers, aim to expose this secret to the world.
At first glance Taiji appears to be a perfectly normal Japanese village, but what happens there is far from innocent.
Every year 10's of 1000's of bottle-nose dolphins are captured from their natural habitat and sold to dolphin trainers to be kept in unnatural, cruel tanks. They're fed various drugs to help heal their ulcers they get from stress.
" The dolphin is jumping and smiling, it's hard to see the problem. But the dolphins smile is natures greatest deception. It creates the illusion they're always happy."
Ric O' Barry.
But that's not the worst part. Oh no.
The dolphins that don't get picked by the dolphin trainers aren't simply released into back into the ocean, they are hauled around to a discreet little cove, where they are slaughtered.
"100's of 1000's dolphins died there." Ric O' Barry.
This slaughter happens from September to March every single year– over 23,000 are killed annually.
They are viciously stabbed and prodded–much like you would a piece of meat.
Ric O' Barry exposing the awful truth to world leaders, at an International Whaling Committee in Japan
When The Cove team approached the Japanese people and asked them if they were aware what was happening, they were shocked and had no idea.
"If the world finds out what goes on here, we'll be shut down." Japanese fisherman.
The dolphin meat is then sold to Japanese supermarkets–labelled as whale meat. Dolphin meat is actually harmful and poisonous for humans, it has extreme levels of mercury in it.
Why don't they just let them be free?
Ric O' Barry and his experienced and passionate team made a pitch to the fishermen that capture the dolphins: they would PAY them to stop killing and capturing the dolphins.
"They got back to us and said 'It's not about money, it's about pest control'. Pest control–in other words, they're being told by the government that the dolphins are eating too much fish in the ocean." Ric O' Barry.
In 2003, Japan blamed the decline of fisheries on dolphins and whales.
That's funny, isn't it humans that are the largest consumers of fish?
"We're pulling the fish out of the ocean at such a rate and eroding and diminishing our marine ecosystems so bad, that the whole thing could collapse." Captain Paul Watson, Sea Shepard Conservation Society, Co-Founder Greenpeace.
Ric O' Barry and his team manage to set up hidden cameras to record and expose to the world what really happens in that cove in Taiji.
I guess now would be a good time to warn you that it is a very graphic movie, they say one picture can say 1000 words, I can think of least 10,000 after watching the footage of the slaughtering.
A graphic scene of the cove in Taiji, painted red with dolphin blood
The documentary is packed full of excruciating facts about what's happening in Taiji, you can't help but feel slightly deflated and deeply saddened, and want to help in anyway possible.
The filming is beautiful and the sound track pull at your heart strings, the storyline unfolds well and you get a real sense of emotional grief from the various people featuring on this documentary.
It makes you wonder, why this is STILL happening?
How can people physically harm so many innocent animals that aren't bred from consumption?
And for such unneccesary reasons??
Why do they do it? Is it tradition?
And most of all, HOW CAN I HELP?
After receiving the newsletter updates from OPS and The Cove I'm not surprised to hear that the Japanese government are banning 'The Cove' from being viewed at movies.
I watched some shorts also on YouTube of 'The Cove', and was quite shocked at all the negative response towards this movie (amongst the positive remarks and praise), people saying it's 'Americanised, and all about pride' and various other remarks about it being just as bad as killing "mosquitoes"-as one person stated. I can't really comprehend the similarity as killing a mosquito and a dolphin.
I think massacres like this one in Taiji need to be exposed, if it is a Japanese tradition, they need to re-think the way they're killed and possibly breeding or farming them so it doesn't exterminate the entire bottle- nose species and the ecosystem.
Does anyone else see the positive side of murdering 23,000 dolphins a year?
"Right now I'm focusing on that one little body of water where slaughter is taking place, if we can't stop that, if we can't fix that–forget about the bigger issues. There's no hope." Ric O' Barry
But we can all help.
You can help stop the slaughter and madness–watch 'The Cove' and discover the truth for yourself, or visit and sign petitions at :
"All social change comes from the the passion of individuals." Margaret Meed
Do it, make a difference now.
Reference: 'The Cove', 2009, Directed by Louie Psihoyos and produced by Paula DuPré Pesmen and Fisher Stevens. Written by Mark Monroe. Executive producer Jim Clark. Co-producer is Olivia Ahnemann in Association with Oceanic Preservation Society, Filmed in Taiji, Japan
After doing further research and seeing how many people have watched and viewed 'The Cove', I realised their main source of advertising came from word of mouth.
I don't recall seeing TVCs, newspaper or magazine articles, or movie trailers.
But yet even though they didn't advertise much, they have reached over 600,000 views on youtube and 20 million petition signings against the slaughter.
I begin to wonder how other non-profit animal organisations, that don't have movies or documents, reach so many people.
I realise that because they are non-government funded organisations, they rely solely on society to get funding to stop slaughtering of animals.
Which ways do they attract the public to sponsor them?
Unlike 'The Cove', non-profit organisations need to advertise.
And not just any kind of advertising, their advertising needs to encourage people to give up their money.
Alot of non-profit organisations use striking, emotional imagery to grab people's attention.
This is a good strategy, because you are instantly drawn in to the animal's eyes, and almost feel their pain, it makes you unconcisally feel guilty.
Their photography is great resolution, contrast, with close up imagery of animal we all love and care for. They generally use images of the animals looking right into the camer aswell-it's this eye contact that helps grab people's attention.
Wiwik and her baby had the flee their forest (along with 100's of other animals), because their home was burnt down. WSPA managed to save her and her baby from death.
Other examples of non-profit organisations earning publicity and funds, is donation boxes.
A good example of this, is SAFE's street appeal with donation boxes.
They make this more fun and appealing for to society, by dressing up as animals.
It will naturally make them stand out, and make you smile.
I mean how often do you see people dressed up in animal suits?!
For more well known organisations, like Greenpeace, they can afford to have TVCs. Greenpeace is also well-known for appearing on the news for doing more radical things-such as with the last couple of months, a Greenpeace member was arrested in Japan for boarding a Japanese whaling boat.
I realised another big difference between 'The Cove' and other non-profit organisations, with 'The Cove', they are involving and interacting with the public, by asking them to sign petitions.
As we are just coming out of a recession, I think this a sensible approach, with outstanding results.
It got me thinking, what other ways can you involve society to have their opinion and have their help, without making the, have to pay??
What ideas have YOU thought of?
Where would you do it?
How would you do it?
WATCH THIS SPACE.....
Did u add something new to each post? Where are my comments? Why they are all gone?
ReplyDeleteI added more onto this post yeah, so it aims more towards design.
ReplyDeleteOh no!!
Where have they gone??
I didn't delete them!
I figured out that because I closed the tab without typing the words verification, Then all the stuff I worte hadn't been confirmed were gone. 555.........
ReplyDeleteAll right, There are some new comments coming.
How could human beings did such horrible cruel things to those lovely creatures! They are the pest.
It's brilliant to get connection between the dolphin documentary and design, to find out the design principal has been used. See, design is everywhere.
Design is defenitely everywhere, you notice is so much more when you choose it as a career (well, obviously haha).
ReplyDeleteI find you look at things and think about if it's working or not or how it could be improved subconciously.
And yes, humans are pests haha!
Well, not all of us, just the ones who completely rob the earth of everything and don't give it time to replenish.
Which includes animals, escpecially fish and whales-70% of humans use fish as their main source of protein, so what's going to happen when all the fish is gone??
I'm reading an interesting book at the momen about 'Green Graphic Design', and they're predicted that sustainable graphic design is going to be the way of the future, which I hope is true, we're ruining this poor planet:(
Yeah, I start to notice the fonts while I read newspaper after I learned design.
ReplyDeleteThe sustainable graphic design is really necessary, I agree. Each piece of paper, cardboards we used are comsuming the resource of this planet. So, make our design work worthy and economical.
"In case of packaging" I just found this book, you will be interested to look. It's about the simple treatments for sustainable pakage design. Nice layout book. http://www.behance.net/gallery/IN-CASE-OF-PACKAGING/569293
ReplyDelete