Thursday, March 30, 2006
Letter to Canadian sea food boycotters
H/T http://ronknowling.blogspot.com/
This is a letter I will be sending out to restaurants and businesses whose names appear on the Humane Society of the United Stes webpage listing participants in their boycott of Canadian Seafood.
Dear Sir/Madam:
I am writing to express my dismay that your company has chosen to participate in the Humane Society of the United States’ boycott of Canadian Seafood in an effort to protest the Canadian Seal Hunt.
While I appreciate your desire to protect the environment and endangered species I am dismayed that your company has chosen this manner in which to express these ideas. The Canadian seal herd is regularly observed to determine its size and growth. The hunt itself is monitored and sealers killing underage seals are charged and taken to court by the government. There are many things you can say about Canada’s seal hunt but "unregulated" and "unchecked" are not on that list.
I am not going to apologize for what happens on the ice flows off my province. It is not pretty by any interpretation, but the work helps good people from small communities to feed their families. In contrast the support you are giving to the Humane Society of the United States is taking money out of the pockets of these same families. While it can be demonstrated that the seal population around Newfoundland is growing the same cannot be said of the human population which, faced with economic crisis has been declining for almost 15 years.
If you are sincerely concerned about the killing of animals I suggest you visit a local animal shelter or perhaps an abattoir or an industrial chicken farm. Seals killed in the Gulf of St Lawrence suffer far less than the animals in the above institutions.
Instead of trying to shut down all the fisheries around Canada to save the lives of seals, it would be more constructive if you attempted to support community and economic development opportunities in the region. The best way to stop the seal hunt is to offer seal hunters more money doing something else. You would find the majority of them would be quite happy to stay on land in a safe environment rather than risking their lives on the ice if they had a viable choice.
Unfortunately, there is no economic advantage to the HSUS in Newfoundland’s development as they are making too much money selling the "Seal Hunt Protest" idea. The truth is that the only reason this "protest" can be conducted is that the Canadian government is the only government in the world which will permit protesters to come out to the seal hunt. It seems ironic that Canadian’s commitment to freedom of speech is being used against fishermen while similar hunts in other parts of the world go unchallenged.
By siding unconditionally with the HSUS you are supporting a deliberate operation to take money out of the pockets of fisher families in Newfoundland and put it in the pockets of the HSUS. This is selfish and short-sighted. Impoverishing the people living on the coasts of Newfoundland will not save the environment or the seals, it will only endanger them further. A desperate person has not respect for the environment and will happily harvest, kill or steal whatever is available in order to survive.
I respect your concern for the environment and the preservation of species but I ask you to respect the men and women of Newfoundland and Labrador who are working to build their communities under what are already very difficult circumstances.
Sincerely
etc.
This is a letter I will be sending out to restaurants and businesses whose names appear on the Humane Society of the United Stes webpage listing participants in their boycott of Canadian Seafood.
Dear Sir/Madam:
I am writing to express my dismay that your company has chosen to participate in the Humane Society of the United States’ boycott of Canadian Seafood in an effort to protest the Canadian Seal Hunt.
While I appreciate your desire to protect the environment and endangered species I am dismayed that your company has chosen this manner in which to express these ideas. The Canadian seal herd is regularly observed to determine its size and growth. The hunt itself is monitored and sealers killing underage seals are charged and taken to court by the government. There are many things you can say about Canada’s seal hunt but "unregulated" and "unchecked" are not on that list.
I am not going to apologize for what happens on the ice flows off my province. It is not pretty by any interpretation, but the work helps good people from small communities to feed their families. In contrast the support you are giving to the Humane Society of the United States is taking money out of the pockets of these same families. While it can be demonstrated that the seal population around Newfoundland is growing the same cannot be said of the human population which, faced with economic crisis has been declining for almost 15 years.
If you are sincerely concerned about the killing of animals I suggest you visit a local animal shelter or perhaps an abattoir or an industrial chicken farm. Seals killed in the Gulf of St Lawrence suffer far less than the animals in the above institutions.
Instead of trying to shut down all the fisheries around Canada to save the lives of seals, it would be more constructive if you attempted to support community and economic development opportunities in the region. The best way to stop the seal hunt is to offer seal hunters more money doing something else. You would find the majority of them would be quite happy to stay on land in a safe environment rather than risking their lives on the ice if they had a viable choice.
Unfortunately, there is no economic advantage to the HSUS in Newfoundland’s development as they are making too much money selling the "Seal Hunt Protest" idea. The truth is that the only reason this "protest" can be conducted is that the Canadian government is the only government in the world which will permit protesters to come out to the seal hunt. It seems ironic that Canadian’s commitment to freedom of speech is being used against fishermen while similar hunts in other parts of the world go unchallenged.
By siding unconditionally with the HSUS you are supporting a deliberate operation to take money out of the pockets of fisher families in Newfoundland and put it in the pockets of the HSUS. This is selfish and short-sighted. Impoverishing the people living on the coasts of Newfoundland will not save the environment or the seals, it will only endanger them further. A desperate person has not respect for the environment and will happily harvest, kill or steal whatever is available in order to survive.
I respect your concern for the environment and the preservation of species but I ask you to respect the men and women of Newfoundland and Labrador who are working to build their communities under what are already very difficult circumstances.
Sincerely
etc.
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