The Cove is an Academy Award winning American documentary film about the annual killing of dolphins at a National Park in Taiji, Japan. The film highlights that the number of dolphins killed there is several times greater than the number of whales killed in the Antarctic, and claims that 23,000 dolphins are killed in Japan every year. The migrating dolphins are herded into a hidden cove where they are netted and killed by means of spears and knives over the side of small fishing boats.
Dolphins are highly intelligent mammal that can know themselves when looking at a mirror, they can even understand human hand signs.
Through advanced cinematography, it's more than probable that the final product will turn out to be a huge emotional and visual impact that goes far beyond an ordinary drama.
Dolphins are not only killed and sold for their mercury-tainted meat, but are also sold to theme parks all around the world for entertainment. People just walk in the park, the music is playing, the dolphins are jumping and smiling, it is really hard to see the whole problem. But a dolphin’s smile is nature’s greatest deception. It creates an illusion that they are always happy, which is not the case at all.
I don’t think any of these things is allowable. First of all, animals have their rights. Although Japan claims that the reason for hunting dolphins is that they are eating up all the fishes in the sea and there is no fish left for the fishermen. What I want to say is that nature has her own way to keep the balance of life on earth. It’s not our business to break the balance. Second, think of this, if all the dolphins are captured and sent to water parks around the world, what would our children see? Will they ever see dolphins that swim off the cost freely? What about our children’s children?
So please let us try our best to protect our animal friends and the environment we live in.
（作者：人大附中高一六班 姜夕，編輯：Helen）
