![\"cove\"](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/cove.jpg\" "\\"ensenada\\"")
<\/a> \u201cThe Cove\u201d washes up on movie screens at a time when most discerning filmgoers have all but abandoned theaters to 9-year-old boys in search of Hogwarts, 3-D gerbils and Megan Fox.<\/p>\nAt the tender age of 9 I found myself undergoing a period of dolphin delirium. Along with millions of children worldwide, I was hooked on \u201cFlipper.\u201d These ever-smiling creatures with their infectious cackle and an uncanny ability to pop tail fin wheelies found me studying the show (and its two big screen incarnations) closer than the Warren Commission examined the Zapruder footage. The obsession seems to have attached itself like a barnacle to my cerebrum. As the opening credits from \u201cFlipper\u201d played in \u201cThe Cove,\u201d my lips moved along with every lyric of its theme song, nary missing a one.<\/p>\n
Ric O\u2019Barry has no one to blame but himself for kindling America\u2019s preoccupation with dolphins. In the early 60s, producer Ivan Tors hired O\u2019Barry to capture and train five dolphins to star as TV\u2019s great grampus. O\u2019Barry faults his work on \u201cFlipper\u201d for starting the global obsession with porpoises.<\/p>\n
For years he lived in a world full of wonder bonding with the mammals and picking up a handsome paycheck in the process. His favorite of the bunch was Karen, the exceptionally photogenic dolphin used in all the close-up work. The trainer kept a close relationship with his star student long after the show ceased its run. He sensed an ever-growing sense of anxiety on the dolphin\u2019s part and fed his aquatic friend Maalox to prevent an ulcer. O\u2019Barry swears that Karen, who stopped breathing while in his arms, committed suicide.<\/p>\n
You try packing around that kind of responsibility. There is nothing worse than a reformed cetacean coach, and over the years O\u2019Barry has developed a guilt complex that elevates his story to near Hitchcockian proportions. In a fundamental about face, O\u2019Barry became a champion of dolphin rights. He not only besmirches swim with dolphins programs, but our own money-spinning tourist mecca, Sea World, as well. O\u2019Barry notes, \u201cHaving intelligent sentient animals perform stupid tricks for our amusement is a form of bad education for our children.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Barry\u2019s calling led him to a remote coastal village in Japan where, in the hush of night, hunters herd and slaughter tens of thousands of dolphins. We first see O\u2019Barry driving through the streets of Taijai with a surgical mask covering half his face. The radical activist has something a lot more deadly than the SARS epidemic on his mind. Many a Japanese citizen would like to see him dead.<\/p>\n
The title slaughterhouse is situated in a remote estuary blockaded by barbed wire and cautionary signage. O\u2019Barry likens his band of dolphin liberators to the cats in \u201cOcean\u2019s 11.\u201d No offense, but you aren\u2019t that well dressed. Tom Cruise may not be smarter than your average dolphin, but his Impossible Missions Force is a more likely antecedent.<\/p>\n
Toward the beginning of the film, O\u2019Barry laments the erosion of the Japanese shoreline. Ironically, his team of experts help beef up the coast by adding rock formations under which they will hide surveillance cameras. No one on the crew expects to single-handedly bring down the gang. They will be more than happy to show the world graphic photographic evidence of the slaughter. It has been a long time since I found myself wanting to cheer at the end of a movie. My heart soared as our daredevil activist crashed an otherwise serene gathering of the International Whaling Commission, wearing a television monitor tuned to the atrocities.<\/p>\n
Why the Japanese choose to continue the slaughter remains unclear. The driving force behind dolphin hunting is the multimillion dollar theme park business which places a $150,000 price tag on each porpoise\u2019s grinning kisser, but they want \u2018em brought back alive, not dead.<\/p>\n
Another argument — dolphins consume so much fish that they place the ecological balance and food supply at risk — is quickly dismissed.<\/p>\n
Long before I encountered Flipper I was befriended by Borden Milk\u2019s animated spokes-bovines Elsie and Elmer Cow. I was actually privileged enough to meet Elsie the Cow on a day camp field trip. (I swear to you it was really Elsie, not some random cow with a yellow yoke flung round its neck.) If you told me the steak on my plate was one of Elsie\u2019s calves, I\u2019d still eat it.<\/p>\n
Were dolphin meat a healthy and nutritional food alternative, let the slaughter begin. An attempt to make Fillet \u2018o Flipper a staple of school lunch programs throughout Japan met with major opposition. Dolphin meat is toxic and has been known to contain mercury at more than 1,000 times the maximum allowable level.<\/p>\n
You can\u2019t eat them, they aren\u2019t messing up the ecology and the market only allows for a limited number to be sold to seaquariums. Why is Japan legally allowing the slaughter of 23,00 dolphins each year?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Cove\u201d is a slam-bang adventure yarn with a true hero at its core. As much as I would love to recommend this myth-breaker for the entire family, there is one unduly descriptive passage where the water turns redder than anything Cecil B. DeMille and his Technicolor Consultant could have cooked up.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Scott Marks Directed by Louie Psihoyos Starring: Ric O\u2019Barry Rating: 4 out of 5 stars \u201cThe Cove\u201d washes up on movie screens at a time when most discerning filmgoers have all but abandoned theaters to 9-year-old boys in search of Hogwarts, 3-D gerbils and Megan Fox. At the tender age of 9 I found […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":242835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"THE COVE -- Why Does Dolphin Slaughter Continue?","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}