If we put culture to one side for a moment, the Globalisation of a UK retail brand is funded by investment from this country! It is the 20 million UK customers who enable the expansion of this Brand. It's growth in the last Fifty years has depended on a UK shopping consumer, who for the most part is ignorant of the Global expansion it is now embarked upon. The current debate about the Chinese market is centred on the fact that the Asian Turtle trade, is driving an entire group of Vertebrates (Chelonia) towards undoubted extinction. This is not just my opinion, but that of the vast majority of Biologists across the world, who recognise that this is a short journey to oblivion, for a group of animals that have graced our planet for more than 200 million years!
If the "sustainable" farming model is an answer, why is it that only last month, the State of Florida recognised that the over fishing of its wild Softshell turtles, which are being vaccumed up to export to China, should be stopped?
Having studied this subject now for more than a decade, I am 100% convinced that the Turtle farms in Asia, no doubt produce turtles for the table. However, they mask and try to sanitise an unsustainable trade which is the greatest threat to a vertebrate group since the extinction of the Dinosaurs. It is therefore, a travesty that the largest retail business we have in the UK is commited to the continuation of this trade.
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