Where's the Outrage???

Hello everyone. Today I'm going to be trying to bring attention to shark finning as well as overfishing for sharks. First a little bit of background for those who may be unaware as to what shark finning is. Shark finning is the barbaric practice of cutting a shark's fins off and often times tossing the still living animal back into the sea to die from starvation, drowning, bleeding to death, or being eaten by other animals. Only one species of shark, the sand tiger shark, has been known to survive the aftermath of finning for any period of time due to their ability to maintain neutral buoyancy without having to swim.

The shark's fins are then dried and used in shark fin soup, an Asian, chicken flavored soup in which the shark's fin adds a jelly like texture. The soup can sell for over $100 USD. The price of the shark's fin really depends on the species of shark it comes from. Larger fins are more expensive than smaller fins. One fin from a whale shark once sold for roughly $50,000 dollars. Yes folks, for one fin. Scientists estimate that roughly 100,000,000 sharks are being killed every year. Many species are now threatened with extinction and some are nearing the brink.

Before we get to the video itself I want to make a statement. When a lion in Africa is shot and killed and it hits social media, the world goes into a frenzy. Everybody talked about that lion and while the situation lions are in with poachers and what not is also a huge issue, the issue of the overfishing of sharks I personally think is a larger issue that is not heard about often enough. People basically want the head of the guy that went out and killed the lion. Strangely enough though I didn't hear nearly as much of an outcry for blood just days later when poachers killed the brother of the lion. It's strange what people will react to and hopefully this video can get shared around enough to cause an outcry to help these animals much like the death of Cecil the lion sparked massive attention for lions. My warning to anyone about to watch this video is that it is incredibly graphic and shows just how evil humans can be towards other forms of life. For those who do not want to watch, the video depicts two Chinese men cutting up a live whale shark.

For those of you who do not know what this animal is...

Whale sharks are the gentle giants of the seas. They are the largest fish on the planet and despite having a 4 foot wide mouth, only eat small fishes, krill, and plankton. Whale sharks have never been aggressive towards humans and as you can see in the image, they don't mind swimming along with humans either. Whale sharks can grow to be over 40 feet in length and are currently listed as "Vulnerable" on the IUCN's Red List. 

To anyone reading this blog. Take a good moment to think about what you are about to watch and remember that the animal in the video never once even thought to injure a human. Never thought to eat a human. Never thought to drown a human. Just a massive peaceful creature whose life was brutally taken from it for nothing more than a bowl of soup. Watch the video and spread it far and wide. Lets show the world that we are tired of cruelty towards these sharks just as so many sounded off and brought awareness to poaching in Africa!

Blog Reboot 2015

Hello everyone. It has been quite some time since my last post here and my life has been going through a lot of rapid changes that have really kept me from doing much in the form of blogging. I began a second blog (not conservation or animal related) that got off to a nice start, but that one I also had to take a break from for a while. I am amazed to see how many people are still visiting this site. For those of you who keep checking in. Thank you! I can tell you that I will have new content up in the near future. So what exactly am I planning on doing in the near future?

My plan as of now is to continue this blog mostly as it was. I will be covering issues that include sharks, whales, dolphins, manta rays, and overfishing. The topic of the Faroe Islands will be excluded from this blog moving forward for various reasons that I do not want to dive into at the moment. As far as activeness is concerned. I am aiming at doing a few blogs a month again. I'm not sure if I'll hit the double digits like I used to right now, but I will be trying to crank a few out every month. Some may have more, some may have less. It really all depends on how much free time I have to type them up. I certainly don't want to rush anything as I'd rather bring educational and understandable blogs to light versus rushed and sloppy blogs.

So that's where I'm at. I'm getting ready to get this thing going again and I would expect the first blog out by the end of the week. I don't expect it to be overly long or anything, but I'm planning on putting in a video that by all means should cause nothing but outrage in anyone who says they love "animals". I'm not just talking about those who love marine life, no the video I'm going to try to get on here should spark nothing but outrage to whale, dolphin, shark, fish, snake, dog, cat, big cat, elephant, rhino, etc etc etc lovers. Again, I want to thank those of you who continue to return here for whatever reason and to those who are new and just finding this place. Welcome!