Japanese Dolphin Cuisine: Cruelty or Culture?

(NEWSER) - The Japanese town that triggered a furor after a documentary highlighted its dolphin slaughter is granting a reprieve to 100 of the animals, reports AP. Some 50 dolphins will be sold to aquariums, and the remainder of the 100 trapped for yesterday's first hunt of the season will be released back to the sea. The town of Taiji made the decision in response to anger triggered by the film, The Cove, which showed bay waters turned red with blood in the town slaughter. More»

Man pulls animal out, drives it to sea

(NEWSER) - A baby dolphin trapped in a flooded rice paddy after Japan’s tsunami has been returned to the sea, Reuters reports. "A man passing by said he had found the dolphin in the rice paddy and that we had to do something to save it," says a pet store owner who’s been saving animals since the disaster. He couldn’t net the 4-foot-long creature, so he carried it out in his arms, wrapped it in wet towels, then drove it a mile to the ocean. More»

Cove's defiant director plans to hand out DVDs

(NEWSER) - US commanders wary of offending the Japanese have canceled screenings of Oscar-winning documentary The Cove, but that won't silence its message, its director tells the AP . Louie Psihoyos says he plans to hand out DVDs of the movie, which shows the gruesome annual dolphin hunt in a Japanese town, at the Air Force base near Tokyo that canceled a screening. More»

The Cove filmmakers aim to curb demand for mammals from aquariums, for food

(NEWSER) - Planning a trip to Sea World? You might want to go before you see The Cove—because you sure won’t want to after. The documentary, made by a National Geographic photographer and Flipper’s former trainer, takes viewers inside a secret cove in Japan, Andrew O’Hehir, from Sundance, writes in Salon. Fishermen herd thousands of dolphins there, select the best for aquariums and slaughter the rest for meat. More»

Sushi capital continues to eat up

(NEWSER) - New Yorkers may be in the throes of a sushi scare after the Times reported on the dangerous mercury levels in tuna, but the Japanese aren't batting an eyelid. One official's biggest concern was that the controversy would ignite "groundless rumors" about a healthy food, AP reports. "We're not talking about eating 10 tuna sushi every day—in which case I might be a little worried," said one sushi lover. More»