Update: at about 7 pm PST 2/21/12 I checked my email and found the following:

“Hello,

I apologize for all the inconvenience you experienced in this case.

I have forwarded your feedback to our concern department.

The items you referenced are not available for sale. Thank you for contacting us.

Thank you for your inquiry. Did I solve your problem?

If yes, please click here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/survey?p=A36WAQIF1FLSEC&k=hy

If no, please click here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/survey?p=A36WAQIF1FLSEC&k=hn

This was in response to an email I had sent to Amazon, requesting both the removal of those goods for sale and an official policy change. I clicked “no” because I’m waiting for the policy statement from management…but it seems as though Amazon has reacted quickly and stopped the sales, kudos to them if so.

Seattle based Amazon allows its subsidiary in Japan to traffic in whale and dolphin products – whether Amazon is just clueless or whether they are indifferent to cetacean slaughter, this company that sees itself as environmentally conscientious seems to have boxed its morals and shipped them overseas.

With a market value of almost 83 billion dollars and shares trading at $182.50 their outlook is considered ‘bullish’ – but stockholders and consumers alike may soon change their minds on this company. Most of the world is fed up with seeing images of the bloodbath involved with cetacean slaughter, we are sick of seeing red, and disgusted with waiting for our paralyzed governments to do something.

But we can ‘vote’ with our pocketbooks and take our business elsewhere – maybe the sight of red ink on their ledgers will persuade Amazon to take action. Let it be their turn to see red.

To see for yourself, please do the following: first try clicking on Amazon Japan whale meat. If that link doesn’t work, go to Amazon.co.jp (this link is for the English version) then carefully copy and paste this: クジラ into the search bar (it is kanji for ‘whale’, typing in the English word didn’t seem to work.)





STRICT EMBARGO OF AMAZON Called by The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and the International Humane Society.

10.00 (GMT) on TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2012

From The International Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA):

AMAZON.COM PROFITS FROM SLAUGHTER OF WHALES

Internet giant urged to clean house and ban all cetacean products

LONDON: Internet marketplace giant Amazon.com is today called on to stop supporting commercial whaling by immediately and permanently banning the sale of all products from whales, dolphins and porpoises (collectively known as ’cetaceans’).

Amazon.com’s Unpalatable Profits, a new report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), launched in co-operation with Humane Society International, reveals that Amazon Japan, the wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon Inc, sells hundreds of cetacean food products.









In December 2011, 147 whale products were found for sale on Amazon Japan. The listed products included fin, sei, minke and Bryde’s whales, all protected by the International Whaling Commission’s moratorium on commercial whaling and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which forbids international trade. Despite this, several companies were selling endangered fin whale imported from Iceland.

Amazon Japan was also selling pilot whale and other whale or dolphin species from the infamous Taiji drive hunts, highlighted in the Oscar-winning film The Cove.

EIA has released a hard-hitting 50-second campaign film – http://vimeo.com/31427376 – urging consumers to tell Amazon boss Jeff Bezos to stop selling whales.

“Amazon is selling threatened and endangered cetacean species that are protected by two international treaties,” said EIA Senior Campaigner Clare Perry. “By allowing vendors to sell whale products on its sites, it is effectively helping to prop up an unsustainable trade that should have been consigned to the history books long ago.”

EIA investigators purchased eight whale products from Amazon Japan in 2011, including canned whale meat, whale jerky, whale bacon and whale stew. Analysis revealed six of them to have mercury levels exceeding the Japanese national limit for mercury in seafood of 0.4 parts per million (ppm) and one had a staggering mercury level of 20ppm, about 50 times the safe limit.

“Amazon says ‘we’re constantly looking for ways to further reduce our environmental impact’ – banning these harmful products is an easy way for Amazon to show genuine commitment to this principle, while protecting its customers,” added Perry.

One-third of the 147 products were not listed with a species name, contrary to the requirements of Japan’s labelling laws. Since many of these products originate from Taiji, where 10 times more dolphins are killed than whales, it is likely Amazon Japan is selling dolphin products mislabelled as ‘whale’.

Mark Jones, veterinarian and Executive Director of Humane Society International UK, said: “There is no humane way to kill whales, so the creatures slaughtered to produce the food products being sold by Amazon will have endured a bloody and painful death. Killing these remarkable giants of the sea for commercial gain is condemned by the majority of the world’s nations. As a global brand, Amazon must now act to protect both consumers from environmentally polluted products and cetaceans from the cruel exploitation of commercial whaling.”

Environmental Investigation Agency

62-63 Upper Street

London N1 0NY

UK

www.eia-international.org

Tel: +44 207 354 7960

Fax: +44 207 354 7961