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This Shark Week, Ask Your Senators to Protect Sharks!

Dear John,

When shark attacks occur, media coverage is vast and unforgiving. Last month, a woman in Maine was tragically killed in the state's first fatal shark attack since 1837. (It is likely the shark mistook her for a seal.) But such attacks are rare. In 2019, the United States had 41 shark attacks--none of them fatal.

During Shark Week, sharks are often sensationalized--portrayed as super-predators we should fear. In reality, sharks are not monsters, but apex predators that play a vital role in maintaining balanced ecosystems around the world. In fact, we should be afraid for sharks, not of them. Global shark 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.

Many shark populations are in sharp decline, in large part due to 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, blood loss, or predation. Every year, fins from an estimated 73 million sharks enter the global market. While shark finning in US waters is illegal, the United States continues to perpetuate the practice by providing a market for shark fin products, as well as serving as a major transit hub for the trade.

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 (S. 877) would close those loopholes by prohibiting the sale, purchase, and possession of shark fins in the United States--thus removing the United States from the domestic and international shark fin trade. The House already passed such legislation--now it's up to the Senate to act.

This federal prohibition would bring federal law in line with trade and possession bans already in place in 13 states and 3 US territories, as well as ensure that the United States remains a leader in global conservation efforts to protect shark species from extinction.

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What You Can Do
Contact your senators through AWI's Compassion Index and urge them to support the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act ([link removed]). Be sure to share our Dear Humanitarian eAlert with family, friends, and co-workers, and encourage them to email, call, or write to their lawmakers too. As always, thank you very much for your help!

Sincerely,

Cathy Liss
President

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Photo by Fiona Ayerst

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Animal Welfare Institute
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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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