This is a copy of the response i got from tescos regarding the turtle issues

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for your email addressed to Sir Terry Leahy, our Chief Executive. As Sir Terry is away from the office at present I have been asked to respond on his behalf.

We appreciate you are concerned about the animal welfare issues associated with the sale of turtles in China. So are we. That's why we commissioned independent research, considered the available academic evidence and have been in dialogue with the animal welfare charity, Care for the Wild so that we can make progress on a sound basis. 

As a result, we have made several significant improvements to the way turtles are sold in our stores. We are also developing a public awareness campaign to help consumers understand animal welfare and to provide advice on the best treatment of live turtles where customers choose to take them home.

This approach to animal welfare and the sale of live turtles, commissioning research, acting on it and educating customers, is unprecedented by any retailer operating in China and we hope that these actions will help to drive up standards throughout the supply chain. 

Some organisations such as Care for the Wild and VIVA are now asking us to stop selling live turtles completely and you may agree with this demand. While we are committed to upholding the very important issue of animal welfare, we also need to balance different cultural attitudes, in this case respecting the different traditions, expectations and values on this issue that exists in China.  

Turtles are a popular and traditional part of the Chinese diet and having addressed some important animal welfare concerns, we currently continue to sell  live turtles in our stores in China.

Thank you for your bring your concerns to our attention.

If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us at customer.service@tesco.co.uk quoting TES5262845X.

Kind Regards


Lynne Ormsby
Tesco Customer Service

my response back, andy i hope you dont mind but i used some of the info from the site to prove a point with them

What a poor excuse for a reply! I cannot understand why Tesco need to have shops in China anyway as they have already taken over the uk and put many companies out of business by offering car, pet, home and life insurance not to mention mobile phones and god knows what else. They are not so good when it comes to working for them though as i did many years ago.

Ali

What gets me is that no one has asked them to close down their stores in China (although that would be nice) -- they are just being asked to stop selling one or two items of the thousands of items they sell in those stores. It will not affect their profits one iota if they don't sell turtles and frogs in their stores there. I did think that the one tiny glimmer of hope in the response from Tesco was that they say they 'currently' continue to sell turtles in the stores. That leaves open the possibility for some change in the future (or am I being foolishly optimistic?).

Nina

oh dear i think tescos are getting fed up with me ha ha, check this out folks

Dear Mr Brooks

Thank you for your further email addressed to Sir Terry Leahy, our Chief Executive. Sir Terry is currently away from the office. Due to the very nature of his job he is often called away on business. I am part of a small team of Customer Service Executives who deal with calls, letters and emails in his absence.

I am very sorry that you were unhappy with the response you received from my colleague, Lynne Ormsby. I am confident that there was not intention to cause you any further annoyance.

I can appreciate your views and I can understand that this is not an issue that may sit comfortably with our customers in the UK. We respect overseas local culture in the same way that we would expect our culture to be respected if the roles were reversed. We are committed to a local approach in our international selling operations, as it is important for us to understand the views of local customers and management teams.

Both Tesco and Hymall have very carefully considered the issue of selling frogs and turtles, and have decided to continue doing so for the time being. This is because we feel that it would be wrong to impose western views and values on those countries in which we trade, thereby going against the wishes of our local customers.

The animals are specifically farmed for this purpose and do not impact on endangered populations. They are kept alive and well looked after until they are required, and are then killed humanely without suffering. This is the same process that we use in the UK for poultry, meat and fish.

We have also developed a public awareness campaign to help consumers understand animal welfare and we give advice on the best treatment of turtles, where consumers choose to take them home as live animals.

In addition, we have identified one species of turtle which is popular with customers and can be killed in a more humane way. We no longer sell species of turtles where research shows that this more humane method cannot be achieved.

Please be reassured that, although we currently have no plans to stop selling live turtles, we are continually monitoring customer feedback about this issue.

I can also assure you that your comments, along with any others that we may receive, will be taken on board. The feedback we receive from our customers at home in the UK is extremely valuable to us, as this help us to keep our new business colleagues in China fully updated on the views of our non-Chinese customers. This allows them to consider many important decisions such as the continuing sale of these products.

In this way, we hope to ensure our methods, concerns and animal welfare standards will influence our Chinese customers and ensure a major improvement in the previous conditions practised in this country. I can assure you that we will continue to monitor this important situation closely.

I do hope this information has been helpful to you.

Thank you for bringing your concerns to the attention of our Chief Executive.  

If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us at customer.service@tesco.co.uk quoting TES5273576X.

Kind Regards


Helen Duke
Tesco Customer Service Executive


From: StephenABrooks@aol.com  [mailto:StephenABrooks@aol.com]
Sent: 30 June 2008  19:33
To: Leahy, Terry
Subject:  _http://www.linnics.com/cwi/video/cwisavid01.html

"In a Tesco store in China's Guangdong Province, CWI observed how
Tesco  staff cut the turtle's abdomen from tail to neck with a pair of
scissors. The  turtle extended its long neck and its extremities
struggled. Tesco staff then  added a traverse incision and pulled out
the entrails."

_
(http://www.linnics.com/cwi/video/cwisavid01.html)

EXTREMELY  GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING!!!!



just how exactley are you improving this situation as your team  are told to tell people,

i , shopped at one of your stores once and to be honest ive seen  better hence the reason asda now has my custom as well as  a few  others who have seen the barbaric trade you support.

I f i can stumble upon this information just browsing the web how many  other customers are viewing it right now as you read this, surely it must make  you think of what this is doing to your UK trade and profits

why bother with a 50% stake in a company such as HYMAL when what they are  asking of you is causing such an outcry amongst the UK people even local MPs are  being made aware of the situation,

Please reconsider selling the live turtles or at least use the profits you  are making in this trade to invest in more knowledge from CWI and ensure these  turtles are killed in a more humane way, remember to pith the brains immediatley  and not the atrocious act in the above link



It would be more polite for you to reply to your emails rather than  passing the buck onto people  like         ms ormsby who is only going  to say stuff to ensure  a good pr status



thanks

-------------------Warning------------------------

This  e-mail is from outside Tesco - check that it is genuine. Tesco may monitor and  record all e-mails.




---- Disclaimer ----
This is a confidential email.  Tesco may monitor and record all emails.  The views expressed in this email are those of the sender and not Tesco.

Tesco Stores Limited
Company Number: 519500
Registered in England
Registered Office: Tesco House, Delamare Road, Cheshunt, Hertfordshire EN8 9SL
VAT Registration Number: GB 220 4302 31

I see they aren't saying too much different to what they said to me on 17th February 2007, in response to my letter. 

I have a few other letters from them too all saying something similar.  they seem to cut and paste sentences from 1 letter to another.

Helen

Here's the letter I received then. 

Thank you for your email addressed to Sir Terry Leahy, our Chief Executive. As Sir Terry is currently away from the office, I have been asked to respond on his behalf.

I can appreciate your views and I can understand that this is not an issue that may sit comfortably with our customers in the UK.

We respect overseas local culture in the same way that we would expect our culture to be respected if the roles were reversed. We are committed to a local approach in our international selling operations, as it is important for us to understand the views of local customers and management teams.

Both Tesco and Hymall have very carefully considered the issue of selling frogs and turtles, and have decided to continue doing so for the time being. This is because we feel that it would be wrong to impose western views and values on those countries in which we trade, thereby going against the wishes of our local customers.

The animals are specifically farmed for this purpose and do not impact on endangered populations. They are kept alive and well looked after until they are required, and are then killed humanely without suffering. This is the same process that we use in the UK for poultry, meat and fish.

The comments and feedback we receive from our customers at home in the UK, however, are extremely valuable to us, as they help us to keep our new business colleagues in China fully updated on the views of our non-Chinese customers. This allows them to consider many important decisions such as the continuing sale of these products.

I can assure you that we have taken your comments on board and will continue to monitor this situation closely.

If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us at customer.service@tesco.co.uk quoting TES3108331X.

Kind Regards