Activists Fight for the Lives of 23,000 Dolphins

Richard O’Barry Documents His Controversial Fight Against the Slaughter of Wild Dolphins

By Nicole K.

The seafood business is one of the most profitable industries in Japan, but around the world the business of trained dolphins is also huge money maker. Television shows like “Flipper” have helped this business boom, and it seems like there is no stopping it.

Each September starts the slaughter of up to 23,000 dolphins in Taiji, Japan where fishermen capture dozens of dolphins each day by banging on metal rods, scaring them into nets, and selling the “good” dolphins for as much as 150,000 each to companies look­ing to train and show them. The not-so-good dolphins are taken to a secret cove where they are slaughter and sold to companies who disguise their high mercury meat as tuna.

Richard O’Barry, a dolphin activist for most of his life, de­cided to try and stop the slaughter by any means possible and filmed his experience. “The Cove” was the controversial film that tracked O’Barry’s experience and one that left many people asking “How is this happening?”

After training and caring for the famous dolphin Kathy, who starred as Flipper in the hit televi­sion show, O’Barry soon realized dolphins should not be kept as pets or show animals. He made it his life goal after his beloved dolphin died to rescue dolphins in captiv­ity all over the world and set them back into the wild. He was horri­fied when he heard of the slaughter going on in Taiji.

O’Barry has a reputation with many marine life organizations that keeps him out of very impor­tant meetings.

Although he has this reputation, O’Barry never stops fighting for his cause. It is moving to see the emotions behind the cause which is shared by all of the activists in the movie. After watching it, it’s hard to not be angry or up­set. There is a strong feeling of powerlessness because there is not much we can do. The average civilian in Japan has no idea that these atrocities are going on and the Japanese government doesn’t seem to care either.

The movie ended with “We Can Help Stop This” running across the screen. As of now, the slaughter still goes on every September and until the people of this world stand up, the horror will continue.