The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has accused Google of allowing advertisements to appear on a Japanese shopping website, selling illegal animal products of endangered species despite its prohibiting policy.
Clare Perry, senior campaigner at the EIA, said: “Google Japan Shopping is promoting the sale of a huge variety of products from threatened and endangered whale species.”
The spotted advertisements sells African elephant tusks and whale fins, causing outrage among environmentalists, demanding the global search giant to remove the marketing of illegal animal items, Reuters reported.
The non-profit group EIA, based in the UK and the United States, addressed a letter to Larry Page, chief executive at Google.
The letter appealed for the removal of advertising of more than 1,400 whale products and 10,000 elephant ivory items as appearing on Google Japan’s shopping site.
No response from Google has been reported, despite the shopping site restrictions stating: “Elephant ivory – Not Allowed – Google doesn’t allow the promotion of elephant ivory” and “Whale products – Not Allowed – Google doesn’t allow the promotion of whale products including bones, meat or oil.”
According to Perry, the unwanted marketing promotes products from whales killed in Iceland to Taiji-murdered creatures, including dolphins.
Allan Thornton, president of the EIA,said: “Google has laudable policies that prohibit the promotion of endangered wildlife products including whale, dolphin and elephant ivory, but sadly these are not being enforced.
“That’s devastating for whales and elephants.”
On the brink of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
(CITES) conference in Thailand, the revelation adds to the major concern of tens of thousands of poached animals, mainly being traded in Asia as the demand for illegal ivory remains.
