Grace Chua, Straits Times 10 Apr 09;
A LOCAL animal welfare group will speak out on the plight of sharks at the Speakers' Corner on the afternoon of April 18.
Mr Louis Ng, executive director of the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres), will be giving a speech on sharks' role in the ecosystem.
It will be one of the first few environment-related events at the civic space.
Millions of sharks are killed each year for various reasons, such as for their meat, to make shark skin leather, and for shark's fin soup.
Their liver oil is also harvested for use in the cosmetic industry.
This week, it was also reported that an extremely rare megamouth shark was caught off Donsol, in the Philippines, and eaten.
About half of all shark species are thought to be endangered.
'If sharks get wiped out, the whole ecosystem will collapse and ultimately, we humans will suffer,' said MrNg.
The event will also feature a display of Jenga building blocks to signify that sharks are at the base of the marine ecosystem.
About 1,000 people are expected to show up for the event, which will be held from 2pm to 5pm, MrNg said.
Founded in 2001, Acres has been vocal on other animal welfare issues as well, such as the illegal wildlife trade and dolphins in captivity.
