The country with the largest population in the world seems to be having a significant amount of trouble in being sensitive to the environment they inhabit. Not very different what we see in India as well, like Shaktimaan. Still, we do not kill off our social media celebrities.

Weibo

The image of a whale shark swimming near an oil platform off the coast of China surfaced on a social media and soon went viral. The person who had posted the image indicated that the shark was a regular visitor around this time of the year. "Hey old friend, long time no see!" said the post. The beautiful image captured the majestic animal in its wild, free form.

grindtv.com

Two days later, possibly the same whale shark was seen hanging from a fisherman's crane in China. The bigger surprise is that whalesharks are an endangered species and it is forbidden to hunt them. Seems, Chinese fishermen did not just break the rules but also gloated about it on social media with images.

Weibo

The almost dead shark was then displayed along the streets of the port town, a repeat of an instance in 2014, with people gathering to get selfies clicked with the dying mammal.

Asian Town

If that was not enough, the fishermen then proceeded to the saw off the shark while it was still alive and struggling to get away. Within a few minutes, the majestic animal was reduced to prohibited food for the market.

scmp.com

The Chinese government says that the two fishermen who caught the whaleshark and brutally killed it have been arrested but there has been no statement on whether stricter methods will be enforced to prevent such incidents from taking place.

China currently has not been able to stop its fishermen from killing 600 whales and sharks each year despite both being listed in the UN endangered species.

Wildlife Risk

The meat of the whaleshark sells for quite a handsome price in the illegal market and so, despite the whalesharks being protected under Article 31 of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on The Protection of Wildlife, fishermen continue to hunt them for meat for the Sri Lankan market as well as oils for the European market.