(Ch. 10 News, Tampa Bay, FL, USA)
"The Cove" inspires Tampa
man to save Japanese
dolphins
Kathryn Bursch 23 mins ago
Tampa, Florida - He may be president of a Tampa
vitamin company, but you can still find Tim Burns
helping out in the warehouse.
"Everybody here does everything," he says putting a
label on a bottle.
So he's a man of action. Still, what Burns has done
recently surprises even him, and it all started with a
movie called The Cove.
The award-winning documentary tells the story of
an ongoing dolphin hunt, capture and slaughter in
Japan. Burns watched the film with his wife Carrie
last fall and they found the images of struggling and
bleeding dolphins profoundly disturbing.
"We could not believe that in this day of age this was
happening and that we had no idea about it.
Literally that night we were online shopping for
tickets to go to Japan," says Burns.
Tim and Carrie visited the village of Taiji in
September when the presence of activists had
delayed the hunt. The cove, instead of red with
dolphin blood, was gorgeous. "It's one of the most
beautiful places I've ever seen."
Growing up in San Diego and now living near the
waters of Tampa Bay, Burns says he'd always
admired dolphins, but not in his wildest dreams did
he think he'd ever become a dolphin activist.
"This is really moving us outside of our usual
comfort zone," he says.
So now, right along with shipping out vitamins,
Burns is spreading a message and he's backing that
up with some cash for the cause. The vitamin
company Ribbon Naturals is donating three months
of sales to the group "Save Japan Dolphins."
In late December, Tim and Carrie will head back to
Taiji to bear witness to what they see as a horror.
"We're going to observe what's going on, document
it and share it with the world."
Kathryn Bursch, 10 News
LINK to news site with video story:
http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=160106&catid=250
0 comments:
Post a Comment