LCA and THE COVE investigates the sale of Whale Meat in Los Angeles - THE HUMP shuts down
In October of 2009 LCA’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) was informed by a member of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, that a sushi restaurant called “The Hump” in Santa Monica, CA was allegedly selling whale meat sashimi. The SIU, along with the Oceanic Preservation Society’s (OPS), Louie Psihoyos and Charles Hambleton, the crew behind the Oscar Award winning documentary “The Cove” which exposed the Taiji dolphin slaughter in Japan, set up a sting operation. LCA provided undercover cameras and other technical support needed for the operation.
Two OPS operatives managed, while dining at The Hump, to slip some of the meat that was identified by Hump staff as whale meat, into Ziploc bags as evidence. The samples of tender whale meat were sent to a scientist in Oregon, who determined the meat to be Sei whale, an endangered species. The Sei whale is a baleen whale found throughout the world's oceans, and known for its graceful and quick swimming and its long, low vocalizations. Fully grown, the mammal is longer than a bus.
OPS turned over their findings to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service the California Department of Fish and Game, and the federal Customs and Border Protection agency, which all concluded that the restaurant was serving endangered Sei whale as sushi. On March 10, 2010 Federal law enforcement officials brought charges against Typhoon Restaurant Inc., which owns The Hump restaurant and sushi chef Kiyoshiro Yamamoto. They were charged with illegally selling the meat of an endangered animal.
Dump the Hump
Then on March 12th, LCA participated in a large rally protesting the actions of the Hump at its location at the Santa Monica Airport. LCA joined Pelican Rescue, the Sea Shepherd Society, OPS and other groups in a concerted effort to show the owners of the restaurant that their actions were intolerable. The protest was just as successful as the investigation, and a few days later, the owners of Typhoon announced the Hump restaurant would be permanently closed.
 Massive demonstration protesting the Hump Restaurant, October 12, 2010 |
 Stop the slaughter of all cetacean |
The LCA SIU has a message to anyone else in the USA selling Whale Meat. Stop it now. We will find you and you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Anyone who eats whale meat is as guilty of murder as the man who pulled the trigger on the harpoon of the deck of a whaling ship. LCA would also like to thank our heroic friends at OPS and the Sea Shepherd for continuing their fight to reverse the exploitation and pollution of the world’s oceans and its inhabitants.
