Internet retail giant Rakuten is terminating sales of whale products through its Japanese marketplace Rakuten Ichiba and has given merchants 30 days to remove them. The move came after EIA launched the report Blood e-Commerce, exposing Rakuten as the world’s biggest online marketplace for ivory and whale meat products
The report “Blood e-Commerce: Rakuten’s profits from the slaughter of elephants and whales” – released by the EIA in conjunction with Humane Society International (HSI) – reveals that the company’s Japanese website carries more than 28,000 ads for elephant ivory products and some 1,200 whale meat products ads
We commend the United States Government’s inspiring step to destroy 5.4 tonnes of seized elephant ivory in Denver, Colorado. The stockpile represents 25 years of seizures of illegal ivory in the United States and its destruction will focus attention on the devastating impacts of the illegal wildlife trade
The poaching of rhinos in South Africa has increased by more than three rhinos a week on average since Environmental Minister Edna Molewa called for a legal international trade in rhino horn, according to analysis by the non-profit Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)
As UN trade restrictions on endangered Siam rosewood come into effect, EIA warned the future of the species relies on range states and key user countries delivering on their protection obligations. EIA played a key role in supporting the Thai and Vietnamese governments efforts to secure CITES protection for the species
Animal welfare and conservation groups are advising major seafood buyers attending the 2013 European Seafood Exposition and Seafood Processing Europe Convention in Brussels to be aware that there are whalers in their midst, and that the seafood they are considering purchasing may be “tainted by the blood of whales”