Each year 20,000 dolphins are captured in the cove of a small Japanese fishing town, Taiji. There, dolphins are met with one of two fates: life in a tank that does not accommodate their free-swimming habits, or death. Sea parks pay Japanese fishermen to capture and put dolphins up for selection. By doing this, they are left with the rest of the dolphins that are not considered to be "sea park material". Therefore, they are brutally and senselessly killed; they are then used for food. Dolphin meat, used as a by-product in school cafeterias, hospitals, and nursing homes in Japan, poses a great risk to human health. This is because dolphin meat contains very high levels of Mercury and PCB's. Between the cruelty of captivity and killing dolphins, and the risk that humans face when given their meat, this issue is something that can no longer be ignored.