Response: The Cove

The main defender of dolphins in the documentary, The Cove, is Rick O'Berry.  The turning point in his life that made him completely change and "turn his Porsches in for this crusade" was the death of Cathy (Flipper).  He had picked out Cathy, the dolphin and trained her as Flipper for the TV show.  However, when Cathy committed suicide in his arms, he realized that the stress made her miserable.  After spending more than ten years in the dolphin industry, Rick's main goal is to get Taiji, Japan to stop slaughtering dolphins.  Not only were they killing dolphins, but there were slowly killing their children as well.  Mercury is a toxic substance that is found in dolphin meat and due to bio magnification, when humans consume dolphin meat, the amount of mercury magnifies in humans.  The dolphin meat was given to children as part of their mandatory lunches as a media cover up