What do Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods Have Against Canada Anyway, Eh?

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Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, WinCo, and Houston’s restaurants are just a few of the 5,000 establishments pledging to boycott Canadian seafood.

Why, eh? We thought you’d ask. The ban is a part of the Humane Society’s ProtectSeals campaign to curb commercial seal hunting in the Great White North—the world’s largest massacre of marine mammals.

Says Whole Foods: “(We’re) suspending any purchase of seafood from the areas where the brutal killing of baby seals is taking place until the fishermen commit to stopping this practice.”

According to HSUS’s countdown clock, 2009’s hunt is due to commence in a mere two months. Last year, seal hunters promised a more humane approach—but as Mother Jones’ Julia Whitty noted, it was far from humane.

If you too care about protecting the seals, you can sign a pledge not to buy Canadian seafood, urge your local grocer to join the boycott, or purchase products like this adorable T-shirt:

save-seals.jpg

—Nikki Gloudeman

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We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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