WASHINGTON —Margaritaville Cafés, restaurants owned by Jimmy Buffett, will no longer serve Canadian seafood until Canada ends its annual slaughter of seals, according to a statement issued by the world-famous musician, who signed on to The Humane Society of the United States' Protect Seals seafood boycott in September. The HSUS launched the seafood boycott in March 2005 and asks consumers and restaurateurs to avoid Canadian seafood as a way of ending the annual seal hunt.
"Margaritaville Cafes will not be purchasing or serving Canadian seafood products until the Canadian government ends the commercial seal hunt permanently," says Jimmy Buffett in his statement. "I do not look at this as one nation telling another how to best manage its affairs. I view it as an effort to make humans more humane in the way they manage the planet. We do not own the earth. We are landlords and we simply need to do a better job, for all creatures on this earth."
The HSUS' Protect Seals Campaign aims to end the Canadian commercial seal hunt, the largest slaughter of marine mammals on the planet. Seal hunting is an off-season activity conducted by commercial fishermen from Canada's East Coast. This year the Canadian government allowed fishermen to club and shoot more than 350,000 seals for their fur and 97 percent were pups just days or weeks of age. By boycotting Canadian seafood, The HSUS hopes to stop the seal hunt. The boycott will stop when the seal hunt ends. Over 1,000 restaurants and other seafood businesses and over 330,000 individuals have also pledged support for the boycott.
"The Humane Society of the United States is gratified to have the support of Jimmy Buffett," said Pat Ragan, director of The HSUS' ProtectSeals Campaign. "He has done so much for the marine mammals of the planet."
"The seal hunt is certainly an emotionally charged issue, but my experiences over the years have taught me that real progress in this effort needs to move past emotions and towards solutions that can work for people on both sides of this issue," Buffett continues. "I would hope that this could be the case with the seal pup hunt. In the meantime, the one thing we can do is to make people aware of the problem."
To read the entire text of Jimmy Buffett's letter, and for more information on The HSUS' Protect Seals campaign, visit www.protectseals.org.
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The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization with nearly 10 million members and constituents. The HSUS is a mainstream voice for animals, with active programs in companion animals, disaster preparedness and response, wildlife and habitat protection, marine mammals, animals in research, equine protection and farm animal welfare. The HSUS protects all animals through education, investigation, litigation, legislation, advocacy and field work. The nonprofit organization is based in Washington and has field representatives and offices across the country.
