At the Oscars last Sunday, The Cove went home with the Academy Award for Best Documentary. When the film’s cast went onstage to accept the golden statue, ex-dolphin trainer Roc O’Barry stood behind the pack holding a sign that read “TEXT DOLPHIN to 44144.”

Even though it received lukewarm reviews, the Academy Awards drew in a large enough audience to send a tidal wave of texts to the advertised number, almost shutting down the group’s mobile service provider.

But where were the texts actually going?

O’Barry, trainer of the classic dolphin drama “Flipper”, was promoting a webpage to take action against Japanese dolphin slaughter on TakePart Online. TakePart is an online community dedicated to taking action against social and environmental issues.

After getting hit with a record number of texts, TakePart’s mobile service provider was almost shut down due to the leagues of viewers trying to make a difference. However, now that the hectic texting frenzy has ended, The Cove‘s TakePart webpage has doubled their membership.






Related Stories: