THE Walt Disney Company finally bowed to pressure last week and pulled shark fin soup from the menu at Hong Kong Disneyland. The dish was to be offered at extravagant wedding banquets from 12 September, when the resort is due to open.
Disney’s original plans attracted fierce criticism from conservationists, who claim the shark fin trade is driving major species to extinction. They accused Disney of failing to uphold its own environmental policy (91av, 11 June, p 8).
In a statement on 25 June, Disney said: “After careful consideration, and a thorough review process, we were not able to identify an environmentally sustainable fishing source, leaving us no alternative except to remove sharks’ fin soup from our wedding banquet menu.”
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Says Brian Darvell, former chairman of the Hong Kong Conservation Society, “Disney has done the right thing, and a lot of people are now happy.”
