EBay Going Unnoticed-Template for Alibaba.com

Something remarkable happened last month in terms of eco enforcement and for the most part this watershed event went unnoticed by the larger NGO community and the broader implications for the ongoing battle against Alibaba.com and Yahoo!

EBay has decided to ban the sale of Ivory products system wide. As it turns out EBay's decision to institute the ban came just before the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) released findings from a three-month investigation in 11 countries.

This study is in our humble opinion first rate work by an NGO that resulted in an opening to both Yahoo! and it's 50% stake in Alibaba.com for continued unregulated sales of shark fin. As we have been covering Alibaba.com is "The New York Stock Exchange" of shark fin sales world wide and remain one of if not the largest sharks fin portal on the planet.

The problem with these sales? 100% are unregulated with many protected species being sold along with literally tons of sharks fin that are being moved daily through this site. Worldwide sharks are being killed at an estimated 50-70 million animals a year to feed the lucrative Asian fin market. Yahoo! Inc is a California based company with a multi billion dollar stake in Alibaba.com. Yahoo! has refused any discussion about it's involvement in this ongoing slaughter calling the issue a "cultural practices one" (see video).

Congratulations to EBay for seeing the light, now all eyes turn to Yahoo! Will they see the light as well? For our money as long as Jerry Yang is at the helm, probably not.

Recent Yahoo! stock numbers here.

eBay White Shark Jaw Loophole?

We just knew this was not going to be easy, it never is.

Following the discovery of a complete set of white shark jaws for sale on eBay we dug around a bit more and discovered the following website. Frankly for a shark diving company like ours we had thought these kind of sites were all but gone following regulations.

If this sites claims are true, we stand corrected, but it does not take away from the fact the trade in white shark jaws remains a repugnant practice.

Seems wherever there's a market you'll find a seller:

This entire page is dedicated to genuine GREAT WHITE SHARK TEETH. The teeth have come from a large great white (genuine Carcharodon Carcharius) (estimated at an 18-20 footer) caught before December of 1998; after this time they were declared protected, then endangered, so no great whites have been caught since that time.

PLEASE NOTE: Great white shark teeth & jaws can be shipped only within the U.S..

THAT IS WHY THE PRICES OF THE GREAT WHITE SHARK TEETH ARE MUCH HIGHER THAN ANY OTHER SHARK TEETH IN THE WORLD.

We do not go out and catch sharks for their teeth! Great whites were declared endangered since December 1998 so it is ILLEGAL to catch them now. But they are NOT ILLEGAL TO OWN OR SELL. So what are people supposed to do with the ones that are already in circulation? Hide them? Throw them away? No, those that are in circulation are allowed to be traded, sold, resold, collected, displayed, bragged upon, showed off.

So because there are a limited amount of these specimens in circulation.....the value has only one place to go....UP (just like elephant ivory products). Modern Great White shark teeth are not found while diving or digging. They now only come from existing collections.

White Shark Jaws for Sale eBay

Thanks to the sharp eyes of blog reader "Samir" we were notified this morning of this recent shark travesty on eBay.

This is what you think it is and yes, it is illegal in the USA to sell white shark jaws and teeth. If this item is still up on eBay you can find it here:

Monster White Shark Jaws

The current bidding is $1750 USD but will always go much higher if left to market driven buyers. The last set of jaws we saw on eBay a few years ago was a $5000 prior to our email campaign. If you have a chance today, and you want to do some good, here's the sellers eBay contact info.

Please feel free to contact both the seller and eBay management at the following contacts to inform them of your feelings about this:

eBay Seller
J.Dizzl

eBay Management
Violations


"A Big Thanks" from the crew here at Shark Diver