Just a little over a month ago in August 2015, a video of a live whale shark being sawed into in southern China brought massive attention to the issue of animal cruelty specifically to sharks. According to the New York Times, the fishers sawed into the shark because it alone sold for $31,000. Many animal activists fought against the action stating that the whale shark was under the protected animals list in China making it illegal for the fishers to cut it apart. Others commented on how inhumane it was to cut into it while it was still alive. In that case, the fishers were trying to sell off the whole shark and not just the shark fins as it proved to be more lucrative. However, the general idea behind the situation was the same - killing sharks makes a profit. Currently there are no laws specifically against killing sharks in China, but there are ones against killing protected animals. Even then, many fishers find loopholes to continue and to sustain the shark trade industry.
The men in the video physically saw the shark into pieces as it breathes heavily from the pain. Humans are actively intervening in the shark's life and the people standing around watching are doing nothing about it. Many people may be indifferent to shark finning even though they hear about the consequences for both sharks and humans because they never see the actual action of it. However, in this case even if the bystanders in the video are not doing anything about it, the mass spreading of this video has people all around the world objecting to the cruelty.
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| Source: YouTube Video - LIVE Giant Whale Shark being Sawed into pieces and sold at a Chinese market while still alive |
