Dolphins

Dolphins

  • Submitted By: dru0nink
  • Date Submitted: 11/21/2013 3:56 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 523
  • Page: 3
  • Views: 64

Andrew North
4/1/12
Rough Draft
For years, humans have been astonished by the majesty of dolphins. Their graceful swimming, the way their bodies glisten in the sun, their intelligence, and also their playful behavior or a just a few attributes of dolphins that people are mesmerized by. The story in the documentary “The Cove” had a very strong and heartfelt story.   It touches on how there are more dolphin’s killed during dolphin hunting season than there are whales killed in the Antarctic , and claims that 23,000 dolphins and porpoises are killed in Japan every year by the country's whaling industry. The migrating dolphins are herded into a cove where they are netted and killed by means of spears and knives over the side of small fishing boats. The film argues that dolphin hunting as practiced in Japan is unnecessary and cruel.This documentary fell under the category of a social documentary in my eyes.   The anti-dolphin hunters are trying to make the people of Japan aware of the dolphin traps and raise awareness for the matter at hand.  
The film follows former dolphin trainer and former Sea Shepherd activist Ric O'Barry's quest to document the dolphin hunting operations in Taiji, Wakayama, Japan. In the 1960s, O'Barry helped capture and train the five wild dolphins who shared the role of "Flipper" in the hit television series of the same name. The show, a pop-culture phenomenon, fueled widespread public adoration of dolphins, influencing the development of marine parks that included dolphins in their attractions. After one of the dolphins, in O'Barry's opinion, committed a form of suicide in his arms by closing her blowhole voluntarily in order to suffocate, O'Barry came to see the dolphin's captivity as a curse, not a blessing. Days later, he was arrested off the island of Bimini, attempting to cut a hole in the sea pen in order to set free a captured dolphin. Since then, according to the film, O'Barry has dedicated himself full-time as an advocate on...

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