Japanese Lotte to halt dolphin and whale meat products, praised by environmentalists

April 7--Japan's largest online retailer, Lotte, will stop selling dolphin and whale meat and its products by the end of April, as the International Court has repeatedly demanded that Japan stop its annual hunt for whales in its southern waters.

Recently, the British Environmental Research Organization has disclosed that "Lotte" is not only the world's largest whale products retailer, it is also the world's largest online trading site of ivory products. The company immediately afterwards made a decision to stop selling whale meat.

Rakuten said they had informed all sellers that they would no longer sell whale meat as a commodity. The International Tribunal will meet in The Hague next Monday, but the issue does not include the "Legality of the killing of whales by Japanese fishermen in the western Pacific and Japanese waters".

Clare Perry, senior activist for environmental Impact Review, said: "The Rakuten move has made us very happy that there will no longer be thousands of advertisements on the sale of whale products on its page." This helps to make it clear that whales and dolphins are endangered and that people should protect them. Not only that, eating whale meat can also adversely affect the health of human beings, and people's behavior will also destroy the ecological balance. "She said:" The tests show that some of the products that have been advertised by the Rakuten have been about 20 times times the amount of mercury in the blood of the Japanese regulatory agency. ”

Rakuten has bought a number of online retail companies in the UK and the US. It also acquired the "Kobo ebook" produced by a company in Toronto, Canada, which has become the company's largest shareholder. Rakuten has grown rapidly in recent years and its global reach has expanded. It has recently notified retailers around the world that it will revoke all its whale products in Rakuten over the next 30 days. A spokesman for the group said.

In Monday, the International Court of Justice will rule on "Japanese fishermen going to Australia to carry out whaling," and Australia has taken legal action to prevent Japanese fishermen from whaling, and they warned Japan to urge the Japanese authorities to immediately cancel the whaling activities to be carried out in Antarctic waters next winter.

If the Japanese authorities cancel the whaling campaign, it will be the first time in 25 years that the decision to cancel whaling was made. In the meantime, they have killed nearly 1000 small baleen whales.

After the 1986 International Whaling Commission banned any individuals or groups from carrying out commercial whaling, the Japanese government launched a "scientific whaling" program.

A spokesman for the U.N. International Tribunal has made clear that support for Australia's claim that Japan kills whales is not used for scientific research.

Environmental impact review and the International Animal Protection Association in the recent "Lotte" online merchandise statistics, up to now, "Lotte" online still has 28,000 of ivory products and 1200 whale products sales advertising.

Almost all whale products are not available for sale after the 1986 kill ban. The "Lotte" network will revoke all products related to whale meat, skin, bones and other parts.