WDC briefs IWC Commissioners on whale meat discovery
Days before The 66th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) opened in Slovenia, we exposed the illegal sale of canned whale products by Japanese online company, Japan Trend Shop, to overseas customers, including in the UK, EU and USA. The shop’s website promises worldwide express shipping, incredibly even telling buyers ‘If you still have some environmental concerns, rest assured that the meat contained in this product comes from animals that have been killed as part of scientific research.’
Two days later, we discovered the same canned whale meat product was listed on EBay US as recently as 06th October 2016. (The item is listed as ‘no longer available’ but if you scroll down, the original listing is clearly visible.)
This discovery is especially timely as IWC Commissioners are today discussing Japan’s so-called ‘scientific’ whaling and the discovery will put extra pressure upon Japanese delegates since once again, it lays bare Japanese assertions that their whaling is not for commercial purposes. WDC staff attending the IWC meeting were able to give a short verbal presentation of our findings to assembled Commissioners and other delegates.
