• Please sign their petition on Facebook
• Share the petition with your friends living in Japan
• Text DOLPHIN to 44144, and sign the petition straight from your phone
• Host a screening of The Cove
• Lead a discussion

And you’re encouraged to do more. Check it out at http://www.takepart.com/thecove.

The YouTube website is launching a new service for streaming movie rentals and The Cove will be one of a select few available. It costs $4 to rent the film. The film will only be available now until January 31st, so tell your friends!

Go here to rent the film >>

Also in film these days:

• HBO is showing Death on a Factory Farm again. You can watch in on HBO or HBO OnDemand.
• Food Inc is now on DVD.
• Earthlings is available for free online here >>

“Dolphins have been declared the world’s second most intelligent creatures after humans, with scientists suggesting they are so bright that they should be treated as ‘non-human persons’.”

“Studies into dolphin behaviour have highlighted how similar their communications are to those of humans and that they are brighter than chimpanzees. “

Read more at Times Online >>

While I don’t think that intelligence should be the main criterion for fair human-animal relationships, I do think this is good news that will help people bridge the species barrier and begin to think of [non-human] animals as individuals worthy of rights.

PS – If you haven’t seen The Cove, please watch it. It’s available on DVD and On Demand in many places.

I watched The Cove last night. I won’t write a complete review, just my usual bullet points.
Warning: Spoilers, but barely.

• The film is really well made. When people who primarily make movies make a movie about animal or environmental issues, that movie is generally better than a movie made by non-movie makers. I was surprised by the film and editing quality. Very good.
• It’s NOT fundamentally an animal rights movie, despite anyone’s claims. It’s a movie about activism and change-makers. It’s a movie about people more than about animals.
• The story is essentially this: dolphins are smart, we like dolphins, let’s stop the people who kill them by exposing the massacre with hidden cameras. The bulk of the film is about how these film-makers and “adrenaline junkies” sneak past barricades and secretly film the brutal dolphin killing in Taiji, Japan.
• Some great shots of ocean life, dolphins, swimmers, and surfers.
• Some sad stories of loss. Some audience members cried, but I didn’t. Perhaps if the music had been different or if I had been in a different mood it would have evoked more of an emotional response in me. The film probably could have used just a little bit more of an emotional tug.
• Likewise, the action could have been just a tiny bit more intense. Or just more intense music, heh.
• To me, it was frustrating how much of the film’s mainstream motivational message hinged on dolphin intelligence. I understand why and it’s persuasive. I understand why so many animal advocates hang their ethical hats on intelligence and sentience, but when the film showed the massive piles of dead bodies, I couldn’t easily see the difference between the tuna and the dolphins. Why must an animal’s basic right to live rely on humans’ perceptions of that animals’ intelligence? Why are the dolphins’ desires to live more important than the tunas’? What’s different in the violence required to kill dolphins versus the violence required to kill tuna?
• The defense that dolphin-killing isn’t so different from pig or cow killing is both valid and invalid. The film touched on the one way that dolphin-killing is different: Japanese people – when they have a choice – don’t regularly eat dolphin meat the way that Americans regularly eat cow and pig meat. However, the differences between cow-eating and dolphin-eating are shades of gray, not black and white.
• The film has a strong call to action: Get Involved, Get Active.
• Negative: the call to action isn’t “go vegan.” To the contrary, the website they suggest says things like “Eating fish can be healthy, however not all fish are safe to eat. Some contain mercury and other contaminants.” It suggests the Mercury calculator.
• Overall, I give the film 4.5 stars out of 5.

Have you seen the film? What did you think?

For more information visit:
- www.dolphinproject.org
- www.WDCS.org
- www.captiveanimals.org
- www.miamiseaprison.com
- www.orcanetwork.org
- www.wildlifepimps.com
- www.orcafree.org
- www.orcahome.de
- www.circuses.com

Recommended Reading:
- “Behind the Dolphin Smile: A True Story that Will Touch the Hearts of Animal Lovers Everywhere” by Richard O’Barry and Keith Coulbourn
- “To Free a Dolphin” by Richard O’Barry and Keith Coulbourn
- “Freeing Keiko: The Journey of a Killer Whale from Free Willy to the Wild” by Kenneth Brower
- “Keiko’s Story: A Killer Whale Goes Home” by Linda Moore Kurth

(video link)