Posted on 02/22/2012 12:00:20 PM PST by matt1234
Animal rights activists have launched a new campaign after discovering the Seattle-based Amazon.com sells a variety of products made from whale meat on its Japanese website including bacon and jerky.
More than 145 food products derived from whales, dolphins and porpoises are for sale on Amazon Japan, according to a new report by the non-profit British-based Environmental Investigation Agency.
"Amazon.com has a clear policy of banning trade in endangered and threatened species but is turning a blind eye to commercial trade in whale products from endangered and threatened whales on its Japanese website," said Allan Thornton, president of the Environmental Investigation Agency in a statement.
The group said that in 2011 its investigators purchased a number of whale products from Amazon Japan, including canned whale meat, whale jerky, whale bacon and whale stew, some from endangered species. Many of the products were found to be contaminated with toxic mercury at levels, far higher than Japan's allowable limit, according to the report published in partnership with the Humane Society International.
The group is calling on Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos to personally intercede and stop selling the products. But Thornton said the company has not responded to numerous requests for action or comment.
/johnny
I and 137 of my closest friends ordered a whale steak at Bugaboo Creek. It took 3 days to cook in a converted tractor trailer and was set on the reinforced table by a forklift. It weighed in the neighborhood of 200 pounds and with the tip it came to about $2,700.00 or $20.00 per person. Tasted like chicken. An hour later, we were hungry again, so we had hippo stew with polar bear dumplings and penguins on the half-shell.
Whale meat was available at the meat market when I was a youngster and my mother used to make a pate out of it for new years eve gatherings.
They all taste like chicken, in case you were wondering.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.