Ever since the city banned shark fin products in October, the Toronto Chinese Business Association has received hundreds of hate-filled emails and messages. Nothing, however, has come close to the letter received on Tuesday, which claims members of the “Animal Liberation of USA/Canada” were “in your Chinatowns spreading rat poison on meat, fish, fruit and vegetables.” The letter asserts that Chinese people are “barbarians” and “animal killers” for continuing to use shark fin products, which are still legal in Toronto until September. Apparently the American “head office” will be supplying lethal E. coli bacteria to the offending restaurants. We doubt the threat is genuine; still, the Toronto Police hate crime unit says it’s taking the letter very seriously. Read the entire story [Toronto Sun] »
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What is it going to take to convince those who persist on indulging in Sharks Fin that this magnificent species is headed for extinction and all because some moron has this insane idea that by consuming sharks fin, either their libido or life span increases. I mean what planet are they on? Why is it that they are unable to see beyond their stomachs for once. Don’t even get me started on the ‘other’ animals they are hunting or torturing to extinction like tigers and bears!
December 2, 2011 at 10:39 pm | by PashaPeople must kill animals for sustenance but the barbaric practise of killing for “parts” must stop. Elephant tusks, bear genitals…disgusting.
December 3, 2011 at 11:05 am | by ShelTotally agree, we should also learn to eat lesser cut of meat too like offal, i.e organ meats, trotters…etc mostly Canadians throw into the garbage, which coincidentally the Chinese make good use of it. People from poorer parts of the world make use as part of their daily sustenance and helps in the grocery bills.
December 4, 2011 at 7:49 am | by baboonI use them and they taste very good and good for the budget too. Unfortunately, Canadian only knows an animal consists of filet mignon, striploin, ribeye and prime ribs only and nothing else…probably we are as guilty we only kill an animal for “parts”.
I honestly wouldn’t put it above some angry, vengeful individual from the Chinese community (of which I am from) who wrote that letter to provoke a backlash against the ban. It seems to be designed to be extreme to elicit sympathy for the target.
December 4, 2011 at 8:01 pm | by ah123For every shark fin you don’t eat in Toronto, I’ll eat 3 in Markham.
December 5, 2011 at 3:23 am | by Johnny DangerousJohnny Dangerous-I am against this Shark Fin thing just bc sharks are cool. But that was funny.
Everyone is soo extreme on this topic. Sorry to say but the mark we leave on this world wide Shark Fin soup thing is nothing to what is really going on. In Africa the poorest have found Shark Fin buyers who pay them a premium for the Fins. In South America and the Caribbean the same. The rich will get what they want always. I just cant wait to hear about the first death of some dummy head trying to battle a great white for its fin.
December 5, 2011 at 7:51 am | by CuliNerdI disagree with killing animals for special ‘desirable’ parts. If we kill an animal, we should consume whatever is consumable. I totally agree with the recent changes in some parts of Ontario to make shark fin selling illegal. From a pragmatist’s perspective, fine, give restaurants 1 year to sell their existing stock or whatever. Recent discussions in the EU on this topic are most illuminating. They want to ban as well. What most people probably don’t know, is that a large proportion of shark fin comes from the EU. We are not talking about poor people who are forced to make a living by killing animals for parts. Clearly it’s a lucrative business. The end users, the Chinese who typically consume shark fin, are part of the problem. Saying they are barbaric is clearly short sighted since many of them are not the ones actually doing the killing.
December 5, 2011 at 9:03 am | by reality checkPeople who eat shark fin soup are dumb. Period. There’s nothing smart one can say in defending the practice. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.
December 8, 2011 at 2:18 pm | by RyanAlbert Einstein ate shark fin soup on a daily basis
December 8, 2011 at 9:08 pm | by Johnny Dangerous