Stop the need

The other day, I watched a documentary called 'The Cove' and it really affected me. Maybe it's because I was feeling a little bit emotional that day and I was in crazy mood swing town, but it still left me feeling so... BAD.

Did you know that 23,000 dolphins are murdered every year in Taiji, Japan?
No joke. Although I wish I was.

This documentary highlights the fact that these Japanese fishermen are trapping dolphins that swim through their waters into this cove and then what they do is go through them looking for bottlenose dolphins so they can sell them to Sea World, and other aquariums that do dolphin shows and then they KILL the rest. Of course, the bottom line for these people is the money involved. They get $150,000 for a live dolphin and $600 for a dead one.

They then sell the meat to local butchers and supermarkets passing it off as whale meat because that is what the Japanese like to eat as they believe it's the healthiest meat on the market. The most ironic part of the story is that dolphin meat is loaded with mercury and is highly toxic to human beings. They're giving themselves mercury poisoning and killing themselves as well as thousands of other innocent Japanese people who have no idea this is happening in their country. Karma really is a bitch.

I cried my eyes out watching the cruelty and the heartlessness inflicted upon these poor little dolphins. These animals have done no wrong to us and in fact are more intelligent than we think they are. There are so many stories of dolphins saving human beings from drowning, and from being attacked by sharks. Sailors believed that the creatures singing out from the sea and rescuing them from their ships were human, thus the stories of mermaids.

One of the points of this doco was to expose this cruelty to the International Whaling Commision (IWC) and the leader of the group, Ric O'Barry, was actually the trainer of the most loved dolphin in the world, Flipper.
After the dolphin who played Flipper died in his arms, he made it his mission in life to save all dolphins from captivity and his efforts have gotten him put into jail many times. Do you think that stopped him from saving more? Hell no.

From now on, I'm going to do my bit by spreading the word about this movie as much as I can. Doing my bit to make people more aware of what is happening and I'll be donating a sum of money to Sea Sheperd which is a non-profit, marine conservation organization. I also will not be going to any more zoos, aquariums and sea world type establishments.

The only way to stop the need is to stop the demand.

Love love!