Leilani Munter Headed To Japan In The Wake Of Taiji Dolphin Slaughter
Written by Vegetarian Star on August 26th, 2010 in Animal Issues, Athletes-Games-Sports.
Leilani Munter. Credit: Alan Moore
Vegetarian race car driver and environmental activist Leilani Munter is headed to Japan to join Ric O’Barry in the fight against the dolphin slaughter in Taiji.
Despite The Cove‘s success in educating the public about the slaughter and the film eventually making its way into Japanese theatres after protests and cancellations, Taiji mayor Kazutaka Sangen has made it quite clear he’s not going to let a few people concerned for animals and the humans who will eventually eat the mercury filled meat get in the way of a bloody tradition.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Sangen said, “We will pass down the history of our ancestors to the next generation, preserve it. We have a strong sense of pride about this. So we are not going to change our plans for the town based on the criticism of foreigners.”
“The little town with the really big secret (which is not so secret anymore) is set to turn their cove crimson again, starting on September 1st,” Munter writes at Treehugger. “This is the reason I am flying to Japan where I will join Ric O’Barry, the hero of the film and the loudest voice for the 23,000 dolphins slaughtered every year in that bloody cove in Taiji. But Ric is not just speaking for dolphins, he is speaking for humans as well. I don’t want to go into the issues addressed in the film too deeply because I would rather you see it for yourself—however, realize there are serious consequences for humans in this documentary as well. All of us—every human on this planet—has something at stake here.”
After his work on creating the “The Cove,” O’Barry returned to Japan for an Animal Planet television series Blood Dolphins, which exposes more details on the dolphin trade there.
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