Dolphin slaughter in Japan subject of new film

A tense new film shows Japanese fishermen luring thousands of wild dolphins into a hidden secret cove in Japan where activists say they are captured for marine amusement parks or slaughtered for food.

The Cove follows a team of activists including former dolphin trainer from the Flipper television series Ric O'Barry.

They battle Japanese police and fishermen to gain access to a cove in Taiji, Japan, where barbed wire blocks people from filming dolphin killings that begin in September each year.

In the documentary Mr O'Barry says 23,000 dolphins and porpoises are legally killed each year.

The Japanese government said it has done nothing wrong and cites cultural differences in response to the film.

Dolphin meat is eaten by a very small percentage of Japanese people.

The film has already been praised by critics and won the audience award at this year's Sundance Film Festival. "Eco-activist documentaries don't get much more compelling than The Cove," said Variety's review.

Mr O'Barry, who has been visiting Taiji several times a year for the past eight years and now wears disguises in the town to avoid the attention of fishermen and the police, predicted the film would have a big impact.

"When the film is seen in Japan, it will shut 'the cove' down permanently," he said in a recent interview.