I don’t want to deny my daughter the fun and frolics of actually being able to see animals in the flesh, however, I find it really hard to stomach animals in captivity. She went to Sea World when she was 3, which was before I really understood about the plight of the Dolphins – never again! Last night my husband and I sat down and watched a brilliant and rather brutal documentary called The Cove. In this action-provoking film, Richard O’Barry, who used to be a Dolphin trainer (trained “Flipper” in the 1960’s hit TV show), leads a fearless team to Japan, where they put their lives on the line to expose the horrific capture and slaughter of thousands of Dolphins. Of the Dolphins captured, the ones that look like “flipper” are weeded out and sent to Aquariums all over the world. The rest are brutally killed. O’Barry explains that these highly intelligent creatures, who are as self-conscious as humans, shouldn’t be kept captive, much less trained in swimming pools, because they’re intelligent enough to understand that living in a concrete pool, when they should be jumping in waves and swimming up to 40 miles a day, is a deadening experince. O’Barry also says that their “smile” is deceiving and isn’t actually a smile at all.
If you can face having your enjoyment of Sea Parks and aquariums ruined, I highly recommend putting The Cove on your Netflix line-up. It’s just another reminder that as we sit in our relatively cozy/easy lives, planning how best we can entertain our families, atrocities are occurring all over the world. So what can we do about it? I went to bed last night feeling so overwhelmed: There’s the devastating earthquake in Haiti, the mass starvation in many African countries, humans treated appallingly even in our own country, UGH – where do I start? As an activist, I have realized that there’s only so much that I can do and give, however, do and give I 
can. I can’t shell out money everyday, but what I can do is lend my voice in the form of a petition signature to the causes I feel most strongly about. Today it’s the Dolphins in Japan. I urge you to go to The Cove Webiste, which is packed with fascinating information – really interesting for kids aged 12 + (my daughter is still a bit young to be faced with all this). You can tool around on the site and and/or take 30 seconds to sign a very important petition.
You can also read Richard O’Barry’s latest blog here.
Although I don’t want to be a party-pooper and ruin potentially “fun” outings and field-trips for my daughter, I do want her to grow up with a consciousness and understanding of what is really going on in the world. I’d rather she has an opinion, whatever that may be, rather than bury her head in a bucket of soda and pretend it’s not happening.
I saw The Cove and knew so much about it already – I am an advocate for the oceans and the earth and am involved in a couple of organizations involving the ocean ecology. Theme parks are a nightmare. Disney World is so sanitized that people now expect natural world to be sanitized. Look at the Key West exhibit at DIsney World. It isn’t anything like the real Key West. And you are already in Florida. Why not drive down to the real Key West. These things are appalling. And I agree, I can’t do much because of time and money but I can educate everyone who asks me about it, I can sign petitions and write letters. I can contribute any money to the organizations doing the most good. And I can choose not to visit places like Disney World and Sea World.
I agree completely! I just saw the cove last week- and I cried like a baby. So sad and painful to watch the torture of these innocent animals. I was really disturbed with the killing of the whale trainer a few weeks back as well. I have banned Seaworld and Marine World for years- as soon as it was proven that the roller coasters added for profit have been affecting the emotional state of the animals and they started having heart attacks and turning on their trainers. What people will do for money!!!