However, there is a practice that, not only is cruel and senseless, but also turns out to be terribly unsustainable for entire species because it is dictated by greed and a culture based on the desire to exhibit a status symbol: we are talking about the consumption of soup made from fins of shark.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
For years in Europe we have been indignant in front of oriental food cultures that involve the use of dogs, cats, whales and sharks, so much so that they have imposed a ban on the practice and importation on our territories (an example is the ban on finning in the seas Europeans in November 2012)
What is certain is that all this is, yes, cruel and senseless, but perhaps no less than slaughtering cows, goats, lambs, calves, chickens and pigs, even if we generally avoid thinking of this.
However, there is a practice that not only turns out to be cruel and senseless, but also turns out to be terribly unsustainable for entire species because dictated by greed and a culture based on the desire to exhibit a status symbol: we are talking about eating shark fin soup.
In fact, in the East, even if fishing is endangering the survival of some shark species so much that it has reduced entire populations - in many parts of the planet by up to 90% and threatening up to 180 species in the last 10 years alone - this practice does not stops.
In China, the largest consumer of shark fins, its consumption is not only appreciated but also seen as a strong symbol of wealth and power.
Until a few years ago the fins, cut raw by the sharks caught and immediately afterwards are thrown back into the water where they will die with enormous agonies, they were placed in the sun to dry on the sidewalks of the streets of Hong Kong but in 2010, due to the numerous animal rights protests, fishermen were corrected to place them on the roofs of houses and buildings as shown by the photos of Gary Stokes, Paul Hilton e Alex Hofford published in the New York Times and also in this week's issue of the International. Images that are going around the world.
Something, in fact, seems to be changing and the efforts of the animal rights activists seem to be giving effects: the desire to safeguard these animals is in fact insinuating in public opinion to the point that there are many hotels and restaurants that no longer include this dish in the own menu, many chains that ndo not sell shark fins and the Chinese government has announced its intention to stop offering the dish at official banquets.
There are also many countries that have definitively abolished the "finning" clike Costa Rica which banned the importation of shark fins at the end of 2012.
However, there are still many, however, those who consume them widely, so much so that in Hong Kong, considered the hotspot of this practice, according to the WWF they are killed every year 73 million sharks from which the fins will be removed to make soups.
All that remains is to hope for a major change before it is hopelessly too late for every shark on the planet as it did in the past for the white rhino, the African elephant or the mountain gorilla.
WHO the petition to be signed on TakePart
Kia - Carmela Giambrone
READ also:
- Shark Finning: the massacre of sharks
- Shark finning: the European Parliament forever bans the terrible ...
- Cathay Pacific will no longer carry shark fins on its aircraft
- The 10 rare sharks facing extinction
