It's time to up the ante.
In June, thousands of seal advocates from across the nation stood outside their local Red Lobster restaurants to inform patrons how the nation's largest seafood chain indirectly contributes to Canada's merciless seal hunt by purchasing millions of dollars in Canadian seafood. In the months before and after that first Day of Action event on June 25, thousands of others have likewise tried to get Red Lobster's attention in order to help shut down the largest commercial slaughter of marine mammals in the world.
In fact, since we launched our Canadian seafood boycott earlier this year, not only have tens of thousands of consumers agreed to stop buying these products, but hundreds of companies, restaurants, and chefs have also pledged to cut or limit their purchases of Canadian seafood until Canada's fishermen no longer take to the ice each year to slaughter helpless seal pups.
But there's one name conspicuously missing from these lists: Red Lobster.
That's why we're upping the ante with the Week of Action. Starting on September 15, and continuing on the days leading up to the annual board meeting in Orlando for Darden Restaurants (the parent company of Red Lobster), seal advocates in the United States and Canada will be joining together for an entire week of rallies outside their local Red Lobster restaurants. The goal is to convince people not to patronize Red Lobster restaurants until the chain decides to join our Canadian seafood boycott.
"Red Lobster has been playing coy about the Canadian seal hunt," says Dr. John Grandy, senior vice president of Wildlife programs at The HSUS. "The chain has been hiding behind its position that it sells no 'seal products,' but that is not the issue. The issue is that Red Lobster has the economic clout with Canadian fishermen to get them to stop sealing in the off-season. They could boycott Canadian seafood and make almost an immediate dent in fishers' pocketbooks."
Indeed, as the largest seafood restaurant chain, Red Lobster and its parent company, Darden Restaurants, are key to stopping the seal hunt. The company could apply its economic leverage to convince the Canadian government that the cost of the annual seal hunt is simply too high—for the seals, for the fishing industry, and for the country as a whole.
Your participation in this latest push is essential, since we hope to make this Week of Action even more successful than the Day of Action in June—and we hope to finally convince Red Lobster to join our campaign. If you don't see a Week of Action event currently on the list, please check back regularly. We will continually update the rally schedule as new events are planned.
See You In Orlando
We chose this week in September to coincide with Darden’s annual board and shareholders’ meetings (on September 20 and September 21, respectively) in Orlando. Not only will representatives from The HSUS be attending the shareholder meeting, but we will also be demonstrating at local Red Lobster locations and sponsoring billboards and other advertisements to educate people about Red Lobster’s power to end the seal slaughter.
Please consider joining us in the Sunshine State to prove to Darden’s board and shareholders that the public is getting impatient for the company to join the seal boycott.
