Going to SeaWorld? Don’t Forget to See The Cove
By: P.Ling on 02 02, 2010
Going to a theme park? A water theme park like SeaWorld? Nice family-friendly attraction, get to fool around with goofy dolphins and cute seals, kids love it and all that.
But just like you don’t want to see how the sausage gets made, so it is with the dolphins in theme parks around the world. You don’t wanna know how they get there.
You can’t hide from it anymore, though, because The Cove just went mainstream with an Oscar nomination for best documentary, and you’ll be seeing and hearing a lot more about it in the weeks to come.
It’s not hard to fathom why, because Director Louie Psihoyos - with his 18 years of National Geographic experience, has put together a masterful graphic expose of the dolphin industry in Taiji, Japan. 23,000 dolphins are rounded up for being shipped to water parks, or slaughtered for meat.
What makes it even more arresting is that the entire film was made while trying to stay one step ahead of the local authorities and the fishermen, who wanted to keep the whole thing under wraps.
Let’s just say that once you see The Cove, it’ll be a bit harder to enjoy the pleasures of SeaWorld and other water parks. Just to clarify, theme parks in the US do not import dolphins - there’s a law against it.
But it does happen in other countries, and it’s hard to get past the disconnect between the disturbing imagery in The Cove and the frolicking fun in the theme parks.
One thing that might help is to verify that the water park or aquarium you’re visiting does not have any properties outside the US which deal with imported dolphins. It’s no more of a hassle than selecting an eco-friendly hotel, and it will help you enjoy the theme park without any guilt.
