This is Kanon — which in Japanese means “flower sound”! Isn’t that wonderful?? : ) She’s a proactive energetic hermit crab from Taiji fed up with misguided humans polluting her cove with blood from murdered dolphins. She’s headed out to drum up support — she’ll get it!
A serious flaw in “The Cove” was the lack of native Japanese anti-whaling and animal rights spokespersons. Disrespectful, angry 40 year old adolescents with soul patches from Malibu were offensive, embarrassing, and lethal.
Cetaceans are saved by including criticism of European killings in the Faroes, Iceland, and Norway — and dolphinariums throughout the world — rather than treating all Japanese complicit in Taiji murders.
This is the first in a series of characters associated with animal rights. Jaquita the Vaquita will be next — she’s a hoot! Vaquitas (“little cows” in Spanish) are the rarest and most endangered species of marine mammal. There are only about 240 in the world. They’re little tiny super cute dolphins which exist only in the upper Sea of Cortez in Northern Mexico.
The Mexican government has created a nature reserve covering the upper part of the Gulf of California and the Colorado River delta. Our hope is this reserve will be extended southwards to cover the full known Vaquita range and that net trawlers will be completely banned from the reserve.