Amazon.com customer Melissa Sehgal has created a petition calling for the world’s largest online retailer to permanently ban the sale of whale and dolphin meat on its site. So far it’s gotten over 9,000 signatures.
A report published by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Humane Society International states Amazon was selling marine mammal meat, in the form of over 100 cetacean food products, on it’s website Amazon Japan before February 22.
In the Huffington Post, Ramona Emerson writes: "Commercial whaling has been banned worldwide for 25 years, but according to the International Whaling Commission, Japan, Norway and Iceland are allowed special permits to kill a limited number of whales per year as part of their scientific research programs. While Norway and Iceland’s kills have decreased drastically in recent years, Japan continues to take home around 1,000 whales during its annual research expeditions."
This is despite the fact that whale meat is not considered a delicacy by most Japanese. In fact, a decade ago, 61% of Japanese stated that they had not tasted the dark, chewy meat since childhood.
How can people be so stubborn in the face of obvious need? (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen to this show). If you want to talk about this–and everything else that interests you–come make new friends at our Dreamland Festival in May, where you can meet and mingle with (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen to this show too) your favorite Dreamland hosts, as well as special guest Nick Pope!
Subscribers, to watch the subscriber version of the video, first log in then click on Dreamland Subscriber-Only Video Podcast link.