WildLifeRisk, a conservation group based in Hong Kong, recently announced the discovery of a factory responsible for killing at least 600 whales a year. The factory located in the Zhejiang province of Southern China could be the biggest slaughterhouse of whale sharks.
After a four-year investigation, the conservation group was able to trace the location of the factory. The factory kills the whale sharks to get their oil, which is then used for the manufacture of health supplements.
Video evidence also showed the owner of the factory, known only as Li, saying that he had to "smuggle" the skin of the whale sharks out of the country. Another part of the video also showed a man, identified as Li's brother, stating that the skin of the whale sharks will be exported to European countries, particularly Italy and France. Once the skin of the whale sharks reaches these countries, they will be sold to Chinese restaurants.
The slaughterhouse is also processing other species of sharks such as blue sharks and basking sharks. An estimated amount of 200 tons of shark oil were gathered from these species of sharks. A video footage also showed some factory workers cutting up the back fins of the whale sharks and of other shark species.
"How these harmless creatures, these gentle giants of the deep, can be slaughtered on such an industrial scale is beyond belief," Alex Hofford and Paul Hilton of WildLifeRisk said in a statement posted on its website. "It's even more incredible that this carnage is all for the sake of non-essential lifestyle props such as lipsticks, face creams, health supplements and shark fin soup."
Whale sharks are included in the endangered species Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Known as gentle animals which feed only on tiny aquatic animals, whale sharks can measure up to 12 meters (39 feet) but they are completely harmless towards human beings.
