Amazon.com confirms ban on sale of whale meat

Washington - The Environmental Investigation Agency is confirming Amazon.com has now officially banned the sale of all whale and dolphin products from its wholly owned Japanese website.

Amazon.com battered by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) Feb. 21 release of "Amazon.com's Unpalatable Profits," has finally confirmed through its website that “products containing shark, whale, or dolphin" are now banned on its own site, and its wholly owned, Amazon.jp. Last December, a survey by EIA and Humane Society International, found 147 different whale products for sale on Amazon.co.jp, including some whale meat from the list of endangered species. The Seattle-based company was harpooned repeatedly by activists who bombarded the retail giant with petitions, e-mails and the plastering of Amazon's Facebook page with comments and whaling images. An immediate boycott threat earned a rapid response initially from Amazon, virtually overnight in fact. Queries to the company on Feb, 21, received the following message on Feb. 22: "The items you referenced are not available for sale." But in a later incident, whale meat was once again discovered for sale on the Japanese website, before it was rapidly removed. Yet the company refused to issue a public statement on its stance, and resisted demands to officially declare a ban on the sale of all whale meat across its Internet sites. Now, as of March 07 reports the EIA, "both the Amazon.com website and its Japanese version contain an explicit prohibition on the sale of products from whales and dolphins." The move is being applauded by activists and is a significant victory for cetacean advocates. Clare Perry, senior campaigner for the Environmental Investigation Agency, welcomed the company's new policy: "Amazon.com has taken the right decision to enact a company-wide ban on the sale of all products derived from whales and dolphins." Vice president of Humane Society International Kitty Block was also grateful: "Amazon heard the public loud and clear [...] Amazon should be congratulated for being responsive to its consumers’ pleas that whales and dolphins should be protected and not sold for profit." The move by Amazon.com to stop selling whale meat, followed a petition that asked the company to permanently ban the sale of dolphin, whale and porpoise meat. The petition organized by Melissa Sehgal, acquired over 200,000 signatures. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is a UK and US-based Non Governmental Organization that investigates and campaigns against environmental crimes to protect threatened forests, the global climate and endangered wildlife. Humane Society International and its partner organizations, is considered one of the world’s largest animal protection organizations.