A Vancouver restaurant, Edible Canada on Granville Island, is featuring meat from the cruel Newfoundland seal hunt on its menu as part of the Dine Out Vancouver Festival.
VHS is urging Vancouverites to ask Edible Canada to remove the meat from its menu, as the commercial seal hunt is recognized around the world as inhumane. More than 95 per cent of the seals slaughtered in the hunt are less than three months old and many are less than a month old. They are killed by clubbing, shooting or hacking with a hakapik.
With more than two million seals killed since 2002, the seal hunt is the largest marine mammal slaughter on earth. The hunt has been condemned internationally, with 35 countries banning the trade in commercial seal products. A 2012 study by veterinarians determined that the hunt was inhumane, stating: “There are unacceptable (and unlawful) things being done to animals for profit in this hunt.”
Please contact Edible Canada and politely ask the management to reconsider the decision to put seal meat on their menu:
Eric Pateman, President, Edible Canada
Tel: 604 558 0040
Email: info@ediblecanada.com
Also contact the Dine Out Vancouver Festival to express your concerns about Edible Canada’s decision:
Lucas Pavan, Festival Coordinator
Tel: 604 682 2222
Email: lpavan@tourismvancouver.com
30 replies on “Please tell this Vancouver restaurant to take baby seal meat off the menu”
Stop encouraging Seal slaughter it is very cruel they kill babies for the fur
No one is killing seal babies and eating the meat ensures the animal is not killed for its hide alone. It is a sustainable hunt rich in tradition that provides food and warm clothing to many.
Do you really need to be part of killing yet another animal for the sake of foodies or food trends? You might also want to consider all the business you will now also be losing form people who might have otherwise gone to your restaurant.
This is not my Canada, and you have no right to drag us back into the dark ages. I was shocked when I read that this restaurant is on Granville Island. I was there years ago. I guess it’s gone down hill since then. I am from the East Coast, but am disgusted by the seal hunt and know what really goes on. Canada’s shame, and the most barbaric thing we do. (And our slaughter houses are some of the worst, so that’s hard to beat).
I’ve always enjoyed your restaurant but when I heard about serving seal meat for dine out. Wow please remove and do not serve it for dine out. You’ll ruin the fantastic restaurant that Edible Canada is. Already the news is going viral.
I left a reply to both the restaurant and festival people. With shame to both and to take a look at the barbarian way in which these thugs kill these seals.
I also suggested to the restaurant they run a video of the kill in their window and see how much they would sell. Shameful.
Educate yourself. The hunt is performed in a regulated and sustainable manner and they are nowhere near endangered. Up until they are harvested they live a free and healthy hormone free life, nothing at all like the ultra processed and insane farming and abattoir methods used for the meats in your local grocery store. Kudos to this restaurant for serving delicious and healthy seal meat!
I’ve been looking for place to eat seal meat for a long time. Thanks this guys for giving me this chance, gonna get there tonight.
Do you really want to be part of this sickness?
Kudos to the people of this restaurant creating more of a market for seal meat. The seal hunt is sustainable and no different from eating any other animal. Without the seal hunt, the population would quickly become out of control and hundreds of thousands would die from disease and starvation. Canadians have been hunting seals for generations. I for one would love to visit this restaurant and have a meal.
I’m glad that there is at least one business in BC that has decided to listen to their fellow Canadians on the East coast who have been pleading with them for nearly forty years to listen to the truth instead of the misinformation, lies, bigoty, and fakery of the animal rights industry. It is offensive that after all this time there are still people anywhere in this country who will support people who have been slandering, demonizing, and exploiting innocent East Coast fishermen. If you don’t know by now that you have been lied to and mislead by a slick well funded propaganda industry, it’s because you have ignored the voices of your fellow Canadians, haven’t bothered to find out the truth, and I have to wonder why. Smug Canadian bigotry is about the only thing I can come up with. Know who Raoul Jomphé is? He was once liike you till he saw the truth, and his movie Phoque-Le Film made HSUS so afraid for their bottom line, they tried to get its release blocked in the US. But God forbid that you should jeopardize your self congratulatory ego feeding by even bothering to consider the truth in this issue.
Yummy seal. Good job Edible Canada!!
this is just not true! Seal meat is harvested the same way as any other meat! Get your facts straight!
What a bunch of misstated “facts” it is illegal to hunt white coat seal pups in Canada. The east coast seal hunt no longer is allowed to use kahapk’s or clubs. The hunt is also closely monitored by government wildlife officials. Stop the hysterics and try some seal meat. Is it not better to have free range chicken than chickens raised in cramped cages. Theses are free range seals!
Laurrette Lavallee educate yourself before making allegations that they are killing babies. THEY DO NOT KILL BABIES ANYMORE!!!!! I Myself support the hunt for seals, especially harp seals they are out of control, Way too many and our fish are disappearing. I have hunted seal since I was 11 years old, was taught by my parents who are Inuit, we hunt them for food, fur clothing, bones for crafts, arts and tools. This hunt will continue in my family for generations, because that is how we grew up and live. And for Denise Doyle, you say “This is not my Canada, and you have no right to drag us back into the dark ages. I was shocked when I read that this restaurant is on Granville Island. I was there years ago. I guess it’s gone down hill since then. I am from the East Coast, but am disgusted by the seal hunt and know what really goes on. Canada’s shame, and the most barbaric thing we do. (And our slaughter houses are some of the worst, so that’s hard to beat)”. My ancestor’s are from “CANADA” I am from CANADA. we live in the arctic all our lives. You might be from ” CANADA” however your Ancestor’s probably moved to “CANADA”. Long before you where born. I am ashame you are living in “CANADA”. I AM INUK, I LOVE TO HUNT SEAL, I EAT SEAL, I WILL CONTINUE TO EAT SEAL AND I LOVE SEALS. If you have problem with that I suggest you do your DNA in Ancestry.ca find out where you are from and go HOME BECASUE I AM SICK OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU THAT DO NOT HAVE A CLUE ABOUT SEALS AND HOW THEY ARE HUNT THIS DAY AND AGE. Qunanamiik, Patusia Nutarariaq
If you eat cows, chicken and other animals. How do you think it’s done? Before you judge on how Inuit live, take a look at where you get your beef and any other meat products, how do you think it’s done? You guys should work on your way of life before you go and trying to stop our way of life.
VHS campaigns against inhumane farming practices and promotes a plant-based diet.
Seal is probably the most humanely harvested meat out there. If you’re going to argue inhumane food harvests, maybe start with beef, pork even chicken. Start boycotting restaurants serving actual inhumanely harvested foods. Along with being a completely organic, not farmed food, seal also provides warm clothing, that happens to be biodegradable, and a source of income for people who live in parts of Canada most people don’t care to consider.
Think about it a little harder before you start making a fool of yourself
VHS campaigns against inhumane farming practices and promotes a plant-based diet.
As a frequent donor to humane societies, I expected my donations to go insuring the humane treatment of animals, with a focus on domestic animals (mostly cats and dogs). I also look to humane societies to act on fact, and not prejudice or fear. To do otherwise compromises their integrity and viability.
That the humane society is now chasing lawful and regulated animal slaughters, and propagating fallacies – mostly related to the killing technique, is confusing to me. As others have commented, seals are permitted to live a proper life in the wild and are then hunted and killed efficiently (you need to check your resources, as seals aren’t hunted and killed in the way that you describe). The old days of randomly killing baby seals, skinning them, and leaving their bodies is over. Why are you propagating this myth?
The killing of any animal is admittedly grim, but there is a purpose (food and economy) and one that we live with, whether we eat pork, cow, or fish. The killing of a seal is no different, and with a swift and efficient slaughter, I would rather that the humane society resources go to protect animals experiencing cruel treatment.
VHS is concerned with any practices that we consider inhumane. Seals are killed by shooting, clubbing and hakapik.
I suppose all those wild animal lovers think it’s humane how cows ,pigs,chicken and other farm animals are humanely raised and slaughtered . People eat veal etc. We eat wildlife we catch and utilize other parts and people make a living out of them just as those raising domestic animals raised for consumption.
VHS campaigns against inhumane practices in animal agriculture and recommends a plant-based diet to reduce the need for factory farming and slaughter.
“baby”?? babies are not allowed to be killed so get your facts straight. Kudos to the restaurant!!! Good for youo to just add another great foof to your menu. Anyone who boycotts you doesn’t deserve to eat there anyway!
Most seals killed in the hunt are under three months old.
How do you know where the meat came from? If it was harvested by Inuit would that still make it “wrong”? Does anyone have free thought anymore or do we all just take multi-million dollar campaigns at face value?
Seals and sealing
Facts, statistics and regulations on Canada’s seal harvest, and the six species of seals affected.
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/seal-phoque/index-eng.htm
BOYCOTT THAT RESTAURANT!
This is very sad and our own taxpayer funded CBC seems to be doing a lot of advertising for them too.
CBC Vancouver has put 3 news posts about this on their FACEBOOK in the last 5 hours!!
CBC Vancouver, funded by taxpayers, is basically advertising and pushing seal meat.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/seal-meat-indigenous-foods-traditional-hunt-elk-beaver-muskrat-caribou-1.3929734
Another thing to think about: “Toxic mercury levels in seal meat linked to melting Arctic ice”
Climate change in the Arctic may be boosting levels of highly toxic mercury in seals, one of the most commonly eaten traditional foods in the North.
A new study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology has found a strong correlation between mercury in seal meat and shrinking sea ice, one of the most visible and well-publicized consequences of global warming.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/toxic-mercury-levels-in-seal-meat-linked-to-melting-arctic-ice-1.847562