The Japanese village, Taiji, featured in the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove is responding to the film’s criticism of its dolphin-hunting traditions. The mayor’s office released a statement saying, “There are different food traditions within Japan and around the world. It is important to respect and understand regional food cultures, which are based on traditions with long histories.”
The Cove‘s director Louie Psihoyos told reporters backstage last night at the Oscars, “Our hope is the Japanese people will see this film and decide themselves whether animals should be used for meat and for entertainment.”
How’s what the Janpanese are doing any different than how we treat livestock raised in the US for food? As for the “entertainment,” we have Sea World, which forces all kinds of sea life to perform for our amusement. I hardly think there’s a moral high ground here.
Yeah Brett! Excellent response! I couldn’t agree more.
true.
few comments, i wonder how many people on here have actually seen this movie?
on top of that, if you’ve seen “Food Inc” (another movie that should have won in this category last night), which i highly recommend, i bet a lot of you wouldn’t eat factory farm livestock anymore.
the issue is that the simple idea of killing dolphin’s sounds morally wrong.
but here in the US we need to clean up our own factory farm system before we talk negatively about anyone else.
I don’t understand those of you that feel you need to respond despite NOT having seen the film. This film contains actual footage of dolphin slaughter – most of which are left for dead. What dolphin meat is sold contains toxic levels of mercury. Dolphin meat is not commonly sold in Japan – it’s not like beef or chicken to us. The dolphins they keep alive are sold into captivity. This Cove is actually a really well made film – an OSCAR winner in fact. You should watch it.
Marie makes a super terrific point, because clearly no wrong should ever be addressed if you can’t fix every single other wrong first.
I shot a cow once. Didn’t feel bad about it after. I’ve shot chicken lamb and pigs. I’ve also shot and killed turkey. I dunno about a dolphin though. Or tigers. The Chinese raise them on farms and kill them. Use the bones for something. If the Japanese were killing humans would these liberal agitators still bring up the lame cow and chicken argument? Regional cuisine? There’s no more tuna left because of old Nippon and the trendy little ships living in LA and Manhattan.
Nobody seemed upset about the kitten killer of hangzhou…or the bile farms? Need some tiger bones? How about Xiongsen Tiger and Bear Mountain Village?
I was thinking the same thing. I guess dolphins are just cuter than cows.
And more intelligent.
Also, dolphins are not domesitcated and raised entirely by humans. So there’s your difference. It is, in fact, nothing like the use of cows, pigs, or any other domesticated animal being raised for human consumption.
Yes, domesticated animals are raised for human consumption. But if you’re at all familiar with HOW the vast majority of them are raised, you might understand the comparison (see: other Best Documentary nominee Food Inc.)
because we humanely kill the animals in the u.s for meat. of course not everyone does thats why we have peta and laws etc. the japs do not they murder these poor creatures and do not care about how many they kill … its 2010 the idiots should do something different. back then we used to do things different too and we learned thats why some animals today are protected. dolphins should be too.
We don’t humanely RAISE the animals in the US for meat.
@sadhaskhj:
We, Americans, raise chickens in tiny little bins where they essentially can’t move. We starve them when they reach a certain age to “stress” them so they produce more eggs before we kill them for meat. We trim their beaks so they can’t peck other chickens. We feed cows corn, which is outside of their normal diet, and the ground-up leftovers of other animals (including cows) to help them gain weight and they live in equally cramped conditions. Maybe the way we finally do them in is really humane and friendly, but everything outside of it is pretty questionable. You should educate yourself before mouthing off about “japs.”
We “humanely” kill animals in the US? Really? That’s very naive. We’d like to think so, but all too often the reality is that slaughterhouses are *not* following through. Plus, we kill horses in the US, for pet food. Did you know that? America is not so morally superior as you seem to think to the “idiots” the “japs” (your insulting name choices, not mine).
To clarify: not that I support killing dolphins in this manner. I’m simply pointing out that the American meat industry isn’t all that much better.
hc: What are you talking about? The joke where I’m from is the chickens live in better conditions than the farmer. Automated watering systems, temperature controlled environments, and vet care – most chickens are NOT abused while raised for food.
If you guys have seen “The Cove” you sure as hell better see “Food Inc.” before you idiotically mouth off about how the US meat industry is more humane than the JPN meat industry.
Remember that dolphin meat contains insanely high levels of mercury, 5 times the recommended amount and that when they sell the meat they disguise it as whale meat.
Currently not living in Japan, having never had dolphin for dinner, speaking ESL, I, however, believe “JAP,” like the n word, r word (for Russians), p word (for Irish?), etc., is an ethic slur, folks. That’s all. Have a nice day.
Have you seen The Cove? Yes, we have Sea World, but Taiji supplies all the dolphins. If they would not do that, it could be a huge step in stopping animals for entertainment.
Brett – doesn’t seem like you watched the documentary.
Are you people serious??? The difference is that last time I checked cows and pigs aren’t endangered species like some species of dolphins are. THAT is the difference. While yes Sea World and other aquatic parks use these animals for entertainment they also go to great strides to protect them from extinction.
Dolphins are not endangered, moron. Ever reat Mahi Mahi?? Did you cry?
Ya’ll are a bunch of idiots. Unless you are vegatarian, you eat murdered animals. Either stop or get over it.
Mahi mahi is a fish (?)
LOL, Molly, you are an idiot. Mahi Mahi is the FISH Dolphin, not the Mammal. Man people are dumb.
Actually the US doesn’t get dolphins from Taiji. O’Barry has issued statements that he knowingly told misleading information several time in that film… Real documentary, huh?
Why does there have to be a moral high ground. Just because the way we treat cows is wrong, doesn’t make what Japan do any better.
Thank you Jessiesk. I could not agree more. There are so many issues we can resolve in this world, including the way the US treats so many of its food products. Watch Food Inc, watch the Future of Food. The man who made The Cove is tackling one issue and I think that is noble enough. There are so many issues to tackle and Ric O Barry is obviously very passionate about his issue and has a done a great job marketing it. That does not mean anything else deserves less attention
comment if you have seen the documentry. this talk about sea world. im glad you felt empowered enough to post on a wall with out knowledge of the situation
Maybe because we are MAMMALS. And dolphins and whales (also hunted for meat) are MAMMALS, not FOOD.
I am also a vegetarian.
Cows & pigs (as well as many other animals Americans eat regularly) are also mammals.
They’re also delicious.
And nutritous
Yummy yummy mammals
Please. Any opinion you have on the subject is biased, probably due to your meat-starved mind.
HAHAHAHAHA!!
Let me ask you a question, Zo…miss high and mighty veggie mate….are you pro choice?
Cry for a few MORE MAMMALS why don’t ya?
Molly is obviously ignorant and uneducated, for Molly believes Mahi Mahi, or a dolphin fish, is a marine mammal. Though it has a similar name, it is in fact a fish. There are many species of dolphins and many rank in the endangered or threatened list. Humans have caused the demise of many of the fish stock in our marine ecosystems, which should support marine mammal populations. Subsequently, these populations are declining, whether or not some want to believe this. It is important to consider that dolphins, a K-selected species have low reproductive rates and long life spans, which also does not support high culling rates that the Japanese and other whaling nations participate in. There needs to be more awareness and respect for other living creatures on this planet. Humans are not here to solely destroy other species. We must protect, too.
Have you SEEN “The Cove”? The majority of it is placed in Taiji, but there are multiple references to shutting down all Sea Worlds and any other place that houses dolphins for entertainment. This movie is absolutely eye-opening and a fantastic documentary. I had heard about the problem, but I had no idea. Different food cultures? If you watch the movie, they are labeling meat as things other than dolphin because even the people Of Japan realize the mercury content in the fish is way too high to digest!
Cows are an agricultural product that do not exist in the wild in their current form and couldn’t think themselves out of a corner. Every month there is new evidence that dolphins are self aware, have verbal communications with each other and are almost as intelligent as we are. Killing them in this way is a crime. If some backward village somewhere ate it’s own babies, would it be ok because of cultural history? What about the barbaric Northern African practice of female circumcism/genetal mutilation? That is a cultural custom also, and most of the world considers it barbaric. Those who make off-handed or mean comments about eating or killing dolphins are either heartless jerks or are trying to appear outrageous.
Perhaps, then, both Japan *and* the United States should reconsider some of their traditions and policies.
Your response is far too calm and logical for this place.
I agree Brett – that’s why they need to make a movie like this but about the cow and pig industries as well. People need to see how this is done. Maybe we will all eat less meat if we know the truth.
The movie is called Food Inc. and it was nominated in the same category as the cove. Best Documentary. There you go.
There is a movie about the cow and pig industries, it’s called Food Inc. It was also nominated along side The Cove.
For your consideration another nominated movie, Food, Inc.
I know I want to see that too.
Firstly, dolphin meat is unsafe it has very high concentrations of mercury. Secondly, the majority of Japanese do not eat dolphin meat and it is usually sold as whale meat unscrupulously. Finally, equating this dolphin slaughter to chickens and cattle is ridiculous. A better parallel is how Americans decimated the buffalo population.
its how there going killed thats the point. its a little inhumane. on a aside note i hate it when counties or religions think that its acceptable to kill or hurt living thing cuz its there tradition and they have bin doing it for a long time. i guess we should be more tolerant of the taliban!!!!
Check out the big brain on Brett
The Cove is nothing more than liberals trying to force the One-Termers agenda down our throats. He must be impeached for his criminal past. Immediately!
What on earth does that have to do with anything? What criminal past. Do you even believe the things you spout or just do you just like being part of an idiocracy?
PS Dolphins are highly intelligent and social creatures, whose slaughter I consider barbaric. Foot Binding and Genital mutilation are also exampls of traditional practices, should we continue those? Finally, the the weirdo who infered that pro-choice individuals have no right being high and mighty vegetarians, I personally value the rights of the already born, over the objections of those who would prefer to see children raised by those who neither want or are prepared for them.
Impeach Obama, if you can inform me how this film has any connection to Obama, or the Demcratic pary in general, and show me Obama’s criminal record, I will happily eat my tongue.
I absolutely agree with you. Not that i condone what is happening to the dolphins but how is this any different from slaughtering cows for food. They are highly intelligent as well.
Like others have said, watch the film. Try to educate yourself before making comments.
They are cutier?? lol! Yes, I agree with you. However, just because the way we treat food stock animals here in the US doesn’t change how horrible it is that they are killing those Daulphins
I understand the comparison between the slaughter of dolphins and cows for food. And I have also seen both The Cove and Food Inc. While I disagree with the mass food production of cows and chickens, the main difference between the two is that the cows and chickens are being breed (although inhumanly) to resupply the demand, while those in Taiji are not. They are killing thousands of wild dolphins with no regard to its natural population. In terms of population and species continuity and preservation, Taiji is being irresponsible in the matter. Then to ask for cultural tolerance is ignorance on their end of the effect they are having.
I shot a cow once. Didn’t feel bad about it after. I’ve shot chicken lamb and pigs. I’ve also shot and killed turkey. I dunno about a dolphin though. Or tigers. The Chinese raise them on farms and kill them. Use the bones for something. If the Japanese were killing human would these liberal agitators still bring up the damned cow and chicken argument?
Nobody seemed upset about the kitten killer of hangzhou…or about the bile farms? How about Xiongsen Tiger and Bear Mountain Village?
Brett you should actually watch the movie, they are against having whales and dolphins in captivity. The dolphins killed in Taiji were rounded up for trainers to pick from for Sea World etc. shows. The ones not picked are slaughtered. As for livestock here in the US you are right they are treated badly. That’s why I don’t eat meat, hopefully the Japanese people will decide not to eat dolphin.
Maybe I’m a sucker for the adorable dolphin, but seeing those brief shots from that documentary made me absolutely sick. Dolphins’ intelligence matches that of humans, and they should not be forced into a small area and wrecklessly slaughtered. It’s absolutely devastating to see mankind completely disrespecting other creatures (including livestock). Someone needs to put us in our place, seriously.
What did a dolphin ever invent, or for that matter cure.
I am TIRED of the U.S. dictating its own rules to the rest of the world! Recently the U.S. even tried to get the United Nations to pass a ban on blue fin tuna fishing. Blue fin tunas are one of the main staples Japanese people consume. Imagine if the Japanese declares a ban on beef! How can Americans survive without beef? I think in the future all the liberals in America and Europe will ban anyone from eating any meat. We are all going to be forced to be
vegetarians!!!
Again, you’re wrong. As soon as blue fin tuna are domesticated and farmed entirely by humans, you can make this comment. Until then, hunting dolphins or any other wild animal to the point of near extinction is something that should be condemned. We’d be no less disgusted if the USA were doing the same thing.
When was the last time you were out riding with Greenpeace?
When were you last at a Tea Party rally?
I’ll just raise my own…
Nobody’s stopping this girl from having a steak when she wants!!
You don’t have to worry about bluefin tuna. They have been fished into virtual extinction and it won’t be long until that is the reality. If the Japanese culture is so closely tied to consuming fish, then maybe they should put some fisheries management policies and programs into place to support their desire to consume everything that swims until its gone. It’s not about the US consuming cows, it’s about what we did to the buffalo and the carrier pigeon. Don’t defend ignorance or ignore-ance.
Americans could survive without beef by getting their protein elsewhere. In fact, if Americans ate a little less beef and a few more veggies, we’d all have a better shot at surviving (and not being killed by obesity-related diseases). Don’t you think you’re being a little reactionary?
You wouldn’t even be here today if our ancestors didn’t eat meat.
Rusty, read your history. Our “ancestors” were almost all peasants in the middle ages, and could not afford meat most of the time. They would eat meat once in a blue moon, for example at Christmas, and even then it was a tiny portion. Our current habit of eating lots of meat on a regular basis is a very recent phenomenon – maybe just the last 50 years or so.
Holly – Good comment. However, you forget that people like Rusty both ignore history, and cannot be bothered to read actual facts for themselves.
Rusty Shackleford = Troll
Really, how about you go back a little further in history and learn they ate meat to survive the winters.
You know, stuff happened before the Middle ages. Dumbasses.
Seriously, Middle Ages? Are you kidding? Worst argument ever. Like Rusty says, you know there is history before that.
Holly, that might have been the dumbest post so far. Last 50 years? Seriously, get a clue.
Holly you are a typical female. Dumb and pathetic.
Rusty is correct. Part of the reason humans were able to evolve such large brains was because our ancestors, like australopithicus and early homo were able to consume meat. The brain is a calorie drain and meat has many more calories than the average vegetable. Meat also provided warmth for humans, and learning to hunt was also learning a way to defend themselves against animals that could and would attack them for food. As we have evolved we have have continued to need the nutrients that can best be found in animal products.
In the middle ages peasents were highly malnourished because they did not get enough meat, eggs, and milk.
On the original topic, part of the problem people have with dolphin hunting is simple ethnocentrism. We don’t do it, so they should do it either.
Oh really TJ – so “give me a clue”. So how far do you want to go back? Roman Empire? Majority don’t eat meat. Egypt? Nope. Bring it Bubba.
You too A – hole.
actually my friend who is a vegetarian just had to start eating meat because she was not getting enough iron and starting having problems feeling fatigued too much of any food group is going to cause some sort of problem….oh and rusty if you read genesis people started off vegetarians, it was not until the flood that we were given permission to use animals for food…
Holly I don’t listen to whiny women, especally immigrants. Go back to Mexico or whatever.
I only like American men. I REALLY like American men.
So if to have caring feelings about how intelligent creatures are treated makes you liberal, then I suppose conservatives have no feelings – yeah, I can see that.
Susan, you are an idiot. Are you one of those ant-american dweebs who says that because we make mistakes we cannot condemn anything? Comparing beef to highly intelligent mammals (and the fact dolphins are endangered and hunted in the wild) is proof of you idiocy.
The implicity here is that legislation somehow equals totalitarianism. But everyone knows that unless we force an anti-meat agenda on the world, one day the only mammals left will be humans. SUSAN JOE SUPPORTS CANNIBALISM EWWW.
I agree that places like SeaWorld are terrible and should cease to exist, but I do not agree with comparing cows to dolphins. Dolphins are highly intelligent; also, the dolphin meat is ridiculously high in mercury, so eating them is dangerous
So let’s kill all the dumb people.
would we have to eat them
Then who would vote Republican?
So Derek, when are you planning on picketing Sea World. I’ll help.
Conner will be there too, right?
While perhaps not the best source of social commentary, South Park has taken on this subject in the episode “Whale Whores”, Season 13, Episode 11. Worth a watch.
The Japanese are also the only nation left that still actively hunts whales. It is not surprising that their Toyotas kill people also.
But America kills people with guns.
And in London, knife-violence is a problem. We can play this game ALL day
Yeah, but we kill each other – dolphins don’t round up and slaughter swimming humans (though if they started I could understand it).
Actually the Inuit people of Alaska still hunt and consume whales.
Yeah, that’s comparable to a mass hunt being done by the Japanese. Oh wait, no it’s not. Duh.
See, the Inuits of Alaska actually respect what they hunt; they don’t waste any of the whale. Now the dolphin hunting, on the other hand, is wasteful and completely unnecessary when murdered in those mass quantities.
I would picket Sea World in a heart beat.
Key word: would
Key Word: heart.
key word: picket
picket = nerd herd
Let’s all do a collective eye roll
I feel bad for the people in this thread who can’t distinguish between:
ANIMALS BRED for consumption VS. Wild Animals being hunted into extinction (bec. this is the same thing they do with whales).
I oppose BOTH but see there is a clear distinction!
What ever helps you sleep at night. I love how people rationalize. Watching a movie does not make you all activists.
No, kill all animals regardless. I say wipe out all the stupid animals and make hot dogs out of them. And immigrants too.
And by the way, I just pood my pants.
What’s the matter, can’t think of your own name or can’t think of any intelligent argument so you have to impersonate someone. Sad.
You’re not me. I’m me. Stop this NOW.
Some advice and information for Susan and Brett
1) Nice point Brett, now that you’ve made it are you going to sit back and be smug or are you going to get up and do something about it?
2) Susan. India, population 1 billion people plus. 40% of them are vegetarian. Go and visit an abbatoir Susan. Read this Susan http://www.iattc.org/PDFFiles2/SAR2_bluefin_ENG.pdf Grow a brain Susan.
I am a carnivore. I eat beef, pork, chicken and fish. I have also eaten many exotic meats in my world travels. Each culture has its own traditions and should not be condemned for the foods they eat or their rituals unless that tradition is in conflict with survival of endangered species. And while I do not like the concept of caged animals, I guess I’m a hypocrite as I have often taken my children and grand-children to zoos.
Otis, at least you can admit it. Teach all these other hypocrites. I think they are just upset because Mommy and Daddy didn’t take them to Sea World when they were young.
I like to shove things up my bum.
My husband and I are hella pissed that this guy is on here trying to make me look like some sort of backwards idiot. The practices depicted in THE COVE are barbaric and horrifying. I will be in touch with the webmaster to try and sort this out. STOP IMITATING ME my husband is a cop.
Again, traditions are no excuse to kill intelligent creatures. That is BS in every way.
@Shannon – What constitutes an intelligent creature? Mankind is more intelligent than all other creatures. Just like a wolf eats a less intelligent rabbit so we too eat less intelligent creatures. It’s natural.
@Elle – where’s your proof that humans are more intelligent than other animals? Dogs can sense when people are coming long before humans can. Whales can use sonar to “see” miles and miles of ocean. Maybe we have a different “intelligence” than other animals.
Humans have language. Humans have abstract thought and symbolism. Humans have the means to significantly alter their environments. Humans use a wide array of tools (And, as I know you’ll bring it up, while many species of apes and monkeys use tools their tools are simplistic and rarely altered.). Humans cook (which might not seem important but is very much so). Humans have agriculture. Humans can do things beyond the limits of their senses and physical abilities. The human brain is large in relative size. The human brain is more complex (as seen by the ‘wrinkles’ it possess). Humans form large complex societies.
That’s my proof.
No that is proof that humans have some skills that other animals don’t have. It is not a proof that they are more intelligent. For every unique skill that humans have, I can name a skill that animals have. And by the way, animals have language too – dolphins, for example (what a great coincidence), have been shown to have quite sophisticated communication. Ants and bees have quite sophisticated societies, too. You have defined “intelligence” as all the traits that make US the way we are. Intelligence of logic, abstraction. But other animals have intelligences that are possibly different – for example, have you ever heard of “physical intelligence”? One kind of intelligence is not “better”, it is not a matter of “more” or “less”.
Wow @Elle. You think humans are the most intelligent species? What about the fact that we are practically destroying everything on the planet? Anyway, for the rest I would give the same exact argument as Rusty.
@ Elle- You make a poor point. You have no idea if a rabbit is less intelligent than a wolf. Each animal fits the niche that they fill because of their role in the ecosystem- not their intelligence. It is a food web, not an intelligence web. Who is to say that our complex brains make us better adapted to live on this earth, when it is very probable that we are going to be the least evolved of all creatures, not surviving on this planet as long as some species, such as some sharks. Intelligence is actually not a measure of fitness and survival. As Dr. Steven Jay Gould said, it will probably be our demise.
All this talk about intelligent animals makes me think of pigs. They are considered to be smarter than dogs yet we don’t have reservations about killing pigs while being horrified that that they eat dogs in Asia. It’s just a bit hypocritical. What we eat in different parts of the world is a cultural thing. They don’t eat cows in India but beef is very common in Europe and NA. Don’t get me wrong the senseless slaughtering of dolphins is horrible, but in my eyes hunting game is about as bad as it is killing for sport.
So, about 150 years ago cannibalism was a tradition in Polynesia. Should we have left that food tradition continue? Because it was a tradition? If not, why not?
Well according to some, the dumb people could be eaten.
Or they could vote for Palin.
Or they could call themselves Rusty.
CHRIST dude, just knock it off! Don’t make me contact my lawyer over this!
If any of you people have had Dolphin Stew, then you would all shut up because it is absolutely delectable! Brett was absolutely correct in his statement.
Brett and Lance are both barbarians who are defending a barbaric practice. Probably another conservative.
I am conservative and I oppose all mistreatment of animals, so it would be greatly appreciated if you would open your mind to the possibility that not everyone is defined by a narrow view of their political affiliation.
I just LOVE dolphin meat! It is so tender and juicy!
I prefer human baby.
Get in my belly
Get in my bum.