Activists in Hong Kong pressure FedEx to ban shark fins

Activists from WildAid and the Shark Foundation protested outside one of FedEx’s Hong Kong offices on Sunday, calling on the logistics company to ban the transportation of shark fins.

With around 20 protesters in total, their demonstration outside the Kennedy Town express service centre involved posting graphic images of slaughtered sharks on the gates, holding placards and shouting slogans. Some of the protestors dressed as sharks and lay prostrate on the ground.

These organisations seek to pressure FedEx into the ban after other carriers, including UPS, Cathay Pacific and HK Express, were successfully persuaded. Campaigner Alex Hofford says they had written to FedEx twice, with an online petition of 300,000 signatures, but had received no response.

FedEx’s position is to adhere to regional and international law, which means that they do not traffic any animal parts that are obtained from protected species. The difficulty comes with the need to test whether or not the shark fins are from one of these species, which is costly and time-consuming.

Roughly 100 million sharks are killed every year, according to WildAid. Up to 83 million of these are used for shark fin soup, primarily for Chinese markets.

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(Source: South China Morning Post)