When nobody on city council is doing anything to ban shark fin products in Toronto, it’s time for drastic measures. Oh, that’s right, Toronto has already decided to ban shark fin products, but that’s not stopping an animal rights group — well, what appears to be one at least — from threatening to spread “rat poison on meat, fish, fruit and vegetables” in Chinese markets and restaurants throughout the city.
According to The Sun, the threat came in the form of a letter from “Animal Liberation of USA/Canada,” received by the Toronto Chinese Business Association on Tuesday. The letter makes reference to the Chinese community’s use of shark fin in food, so this whole spreading poison thing is ostensibly a protest of that. According to the The Huffington Post, the letter specifically mentions Mandarin restaurant as a potential target, meaning white senior citizens who have probably never eaten shark fin soup had better watch out.
In addition to being rife with racial slurs, the letter also reaches new heights of counter intuitiveness. For one, getting active about a cause like this would have been helpful in back in October, say, when everyone else in the city was getting active about it. Then there’s the whole poisoning vegetables and fruit part, because last time we checked, vegetarians were fond of those things, too. And then there’s the issue of poisoning people in general, which is cruel, just like shark fishing, right?
Probably the most surprising thing about the letter is that — despite clear logical shortcomings — the author(s) did not provide a return address. So the Toronto police, who are currently investigating the letter, won’t be able to walk straight into Animal Liberation of USA/Canada’s headquarters (read: some creepy dude’s mom’s basement) and catch them tainting broccoli red-handed.
