WildLifeRisk Exposes Mass Whale Slaughter in China

Last week WildLifeRisk, an endangered species conservation group based in Hong Kong, released a deeply upsetting video as part of their investigation on the mass slaughtering of whale sharks in China. Though there has long been discussion and concern about how recent obsession with fish oil within the cosmetic industry is affecting endangered sharks, the reveal of both the conditions in which the oil is being processed, and the numbers by which they are being caught begs undeniable questions about the inevitable diminishing whale shark population.

photo courtesy of Alamy.com

Whale sharks are the biggest fish in the world and can grow up to 12 meters long, or roughly the size of the bus. These gentle creatures are being sold at ports for $31,000, largely due to their liver oil and skin. Three species of sharks, including the basking and great white sharks, require special hunting permits from the government. And yet, what WildLifeRisk activists found in a factory in the Zhejiang Province on China’s eastern seaboard shocked and sickened them. Their report, titled “Planet’s biggest slaughter of whale sharks exposed in Pu Qi, Zhejiang Province, China” confirms that in one factory alone nearly 600 sharks are being slaughtered annually.

While I resist sounding dramatic, I cannot stop thinking about this two and a half minute video. My initial feelings were akin to what I felt in high school when reading Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. Regardless of your feelings about fish oil, meat, or sharks in particular, chances are you may share an inherent horror when confronted with the hand carving of these massive animals on a bloody and flesh ridden concrete floor. That our desire for a product should override our integrity regarding endangered animals and the circumstances in which we ask people to manufacture them, is problematic. We share the responsibility of a serious misstep in accountability and responsibility, to put it most simply, we should know better. Read more about how you can support WildLifeRisk on their website.

(Due to its graphic nature please use discretion when viewing the WildLifeRisk piece below.)

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 6th, 2014 at 7:00 am. It is filed under Nature, Sustainability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.