How Filmmakers Used Spy Tech to Catch Dolphin Killers
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- FishaHouse777
- added this
A crew from the movie "The Cove" used hight tech camera's and spy gadgets to track elusive dolphin killers for a documentary.
The movie depicts a hunt in the waters off Taiji, Japan, where at least 2,000 dolphins are killed every year, with a few caught and sold to aquariums. The meat, containing toxic levels of mercury is sold to people, often passed off as whale meat. Dolphin killing receives less attention than whale hunts, but many scientists say their death is every bit as tragic.
Like other cetaceans, dolphins appear capable of such high-level cognition that in some ways they might be considered people. Their neurological systems of emotion and social communication are highly developed. Some researchers think their high-pitched vocalizations may contain aspects of language. They may even have names for each other.
Among the most vocal critics of dolphin hunting and capture is Ric O’Barry, who trained the animal stars of the TV show Flipper in the 1970s. It was O’Barry who convinced National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos to make a film about the killing in Taiji, from which only fragmented accounts of the hunt had previously emerged.
Though the town itself is adorned with statues of dolphins, and sidewalks are embedded with tiles containing their likenesses, the killing takes place in a carefully guarded cove. Technically it’s a national park, but even Japanese citizens can’t enter the park during hunting season.
“The cove is like a fortress. It’s protected on three sides by steep cliffs. To get in, you need to go through a natural tunnel system that’s protected by a dog and a sensor. Ric said you’d need a Navy SEAL team to get in there. I said that I didn’t know any Navy SEALs, but I did know Mandy-Ray Cruickshank,” said Psihoyos.
Cruickshank is one of the world’s top freedivers, able to dive 300 feet and come back up under her own power, capable of holding her breath for six minutes. She and freediver trainer Kirk Krack joined the team, swimming into the cove at night to install and retrieve cameras.
Read the full article to find out other ways they surveillanced the killers.
The movie depicts a hunt in the waters off Taiji, Japan, where at least 2,000 dolphins are killed every year, with a few caught and sold to aquariums. The meat, containing toxic levels of mercury is sold to people, often passed off as whale meat. Dolphin killing receives less attention than whale hunts, but many scientists say their death is every bit as tragic.
Like other cetaceans, dolphins appear capable of such high-level cognition that in some ways they might be considered people. Their neurological systems of emotion and social communication are highly developed. Some researchers think their high-pitched vocalizations may contain aspects of language. They may even have names for each other.
Among the most vocal critics of dolphin hunting and capture is Ric O’Barry, who trained the animal stars of the TV show Flipper in the 1970s. It was O’Barry who convinced National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos to make a film about the killing in Taiji, from which only fragmented accounts of the hunt had previously emerged.
Though the town itself is adorned with statues of dolphins, and sidewalks are embedded with tiles containing their likenesses, the killing takes place in a carefully guarded cove. Technically it’s a national park, but even Japanese citizens can’t enter the park during hunting season.
“The cove is like a fortress. It’s protected on three sides by steep cliffs. To get in, you need to go through a natural tunnel system that’s protected by a dog and a sensor. Ric said you’d need a Navy SEAL team to get in there. I said that I didn’t know any Navy SEALs, but I did know Mandy-Ray Cruickshank,” said Psihoyos.
Cruickshank is one of the world’s top freedivers, able to dive 300 feet and come back up under her own power, capable of holding her breath for six minutes. She and freediver trainer Kirk Krack joined the team, swimming into the cove at night to install and retrieve cameras.
Read the full article to find out other ways they surveillanced the killers.
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idealist
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poor dolphins....
good work spy tech! - 3 years ago
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idealist
