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This Shark Week, Please Protect Sharks from Cruel Finning

Dear John,

During Shark Week, sharks are often sensationalized--portrayed as super-predators we should fear. In reality, we should be afraid for sharks, not of them. As apex predators, sharks actually play a vital role in marine ecosystems around the world. However, their populations are diminishing at an alarming rate; the International Union for Conservation of Nature estimates that a quarter of sharks and related species are threatened with extinction.

The primary reason shark populations are in sharp decline is the global demand for shark fins. In the horrific practice of "finning," a shark's fins are removed--often while the shark is still alive. The conscious, finless animal--left unable to swim--is typically discarded into the ocean to die of suffocation or predation.

Every year, fins from up to 73 million sharks enter the global market, with studies showing that 91.3 percent of those fins are from unsustainable sources. While shark finning in US waters is illegal, the United States continues to perpetuate the practice by providing a market for shark fin products.

With previous legislation, Congress has made clear its stance on the cruel and wasteful practice of shark finning; however, loopholes remain. The Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act (H.R. 737/S. 877), a bill currently before Congress, would close those loopholes by prohibiting the sale, purchase, and possession of shark fins in the United States--thus removing the US from the domestic and international shark fin trade.

This federal prohibition would also take the responsible next step of bringing federal law in line with trade and possession bans already in place in twelve states and three territories, as well as ensuring that our country remains a leader in global conservation efforts to protect shark species from extinction.

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What You Can Do

During Shark Week, help protect vulnerable shark species from shark finning. Please email, call, or write your US representative and senators today and urge them to cosponsor the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act (H.R. 737/S. 877). You can email your legislators through AWI's Compassion Index by clicking here ([link removed]).

Be sure to share our Dear Humanitarian eAlert with family, friends, and co-workers, and encourage them to contact their representative and senators, too. As always, thank you very much for your help!

Sincerely,

Cathy Liss
President

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Photo by UWphotographer

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Animal Welfare Institute
900 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20003
(202) 337-2332 | www.awionline.org ([link removed])

The Animal Welfare Institute is a not-for-profit organization, founded in 1951 and dedicated to reducing animal suffering caused by people. We seek better treatment of animals everywhere: in the laboratory, on the farm, in commerce, at home, and in the wild.

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