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‘Blood Dolphins’ Lincoln O’Barry On Dolphin Traditions In Japan

Written by Vegetarian Star on Friday, September 3rd, 2010 in Animal Issues, Film & TV.

Lincoln O’Barry is the son of ex dolphin trainer turned activist Ric O’Barry, who was a major player in the movie The Cove. On Animal Planet’s Blood Dolphins, Ric returns to where The Cove was filmed in Japan and brings along his son Lincoln as the work side by side to expose dolphin slaughter.

Lincoln spoke to The Futon Critic on his like father like son passion for educating the world on marine conservation. It’s not a lie to say the dolphin industry isn’t linked with strong tradition in Japan. Perhaps that’s why there was so much opposition to The Cove finally getting it’s premiere in the country. Lincoln explains that the first three episodes of Blood Dolphins cover some of those traditions.

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HOLLYWOOD - MARCH 07: Animal activist Ric O'Barry (L) and director Louie Psihoyos accept Best Documentary Feature award for 'The Cove' onstage during the 82nd Annual Academy Awards held at Kodak Theatre on March 7, 2010 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

“They are blood dolphins as in blood diamonds. It’s about the traffic in captive dolphins.”

–Activist Ric O’Barry and star of the new Animal Planet television series Blood Dolphins during a Nightline interview, comparing the violence that occurs in the dolphin trade in Japan to that of the diamond industry which sometimes funds violence and produces human rights issues, depending on where the diamond is mined.

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Blood Dolphins premieres Friday, August 27th at 11 PM E/T on Animal Planet.

The television series features activist Ric O’Barry, who first helped to expose the practice of killing dolphins in Taiji, Japan for meat through the award winning film, The Cove.

In Blood Dolphins, O’Barry brings along his son Lincoln O’Barry, though he first had second thoughts about doing so.

“Lincoln can go undercover and do things I can’t do,” Ric says. “I really didn’t want him to do this. It’s sort of a double edged sword. I have a lot of different emotions exposing Lincoln to that danger.”

Discovery has added a section under the show’s website which is basically a dolphin encyclopedia filled with facts about the types of dolphins most  hunted, a dolphin intelligence quiz, and much more. Dolphins have been found to be loaded with antibacterial soap, for example, even though they’re probably not germaphobes.

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Leilani Munter. Credit: Alan Moore

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.”

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