IDA Commends Oscar’s Choice Of "The Cove" As Best Documentary

Global spotlight may help end dolphin massacre and the poisoning of people in Japan who eat dolphins

San Rafael, Calif. (March 8, 2010) – In Defense of Animals (IDA) is praising the Best Documentary Academy Award choice of The Cove, hailing the Oscar recognition as a major victory for dolphins. The film is based on the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition (SJD) campaign to stop the slaughter and consumption of dolphins in Japan, and to prevent their capture and imprisonment in captivity.

The global spotlight on The Cove should reinforce pressure for Japan’s new Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety, Ms. Mizuho Fukushima, to publicize the calamitous health risks, including mercury poisoning, associated with eating dolphin meat. This is especially true for residents in Taiji, the small fishing village where The Cove was filmed. University of Hokkaido Professor Tetsuya Endo concluded in a recent study that Taiji residents have 10 times higher mercury levels than other Japanese citizens.

The Japanese government seems unable to respond to charges that it has allowed and continues to allow the poisoning of both Japanese citizens and foreign visitors who eat contaminated dolphin meat. Equally important, noted IDA President Dr. Elliot M. Katz, a veterinarian, “The Japanese government can no longer cover up the barbaric dolphin slaughter with routine media blackouts on the issue. They simply have no answer to the filmed dolphin massacres other than they are lawful activities.”

“IDA congratulates the crew of The Cove, including Director Louis Psihoyos, Executive Producer Jim Clark, Producer Fisher Stevens, and the Oceanic Preservation Society,” added Dr. Katz. “And of course activist and former Flipper trainer Ric O’Barry, perhaps the best friend dolphins could have. The global spotlight on The Cove will bring the necessary pressure in Japan to ban the sale of dolphin meat without delay.”

The Save Japan Dolphins Coalition is working to expand the number of Japanese citizens who can see The Cove, which is scheduled for release in Japan later this year. Only about 600 of Japan’s 127 million people have seen the film, and those who did see The Cove expressed outrage in Japanese and U.S. media.

In Defense of Animals is a founding member of the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition, which also includes Animal Welfare Institute, Campaign Whale of the UK, Earth Island Institute, Elsa Nature Conservancy of Japan and OceanCare of Switzerland.

For more information, please visit www.idausa.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Dr. Elliot M. Katz, 415.448.0048, ext. 225
Melissa Gonzalez, 707.981.7701, Melissa@idausa.org