To: Garry Wilkes, owner of Community Natural Foods;

As ethical consumers, we have regarded Community Natural Foods as an ethically-conscious local store, and therefore have been long-term and loyal customers of your business, giving it priority and preference over other businesses.

We are deeply disappointed with your decision to sell live lobsters. Keeping lobsters in a small, crowded tank with their claws tied up, only to be sold and boiled alive is extremely inhumane. Evidence shows that lobsters have complex emotional lives, as well as sophisticated nervous systems.

According to many academic studies, this method of selling live lobsters is widely regarded by the scientific community as unnecessary torture. Contrary to popular belief, scientific studies have consistently determined that marine crustaceans, such as lobsters and crabs, commonly sold alive for seafood purposes, can and do feel pain. As a result, when kept in tanks, they often suffer from stress associated with confinement, low oxygen levels, and crowding. For further information, please visit the following link: www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/factory-%20farming/fish/lobsters-crabs/

Other businesses promoting community and natural products, including one of the largest in North America, Whole Foods, has publicly banned the sale of live lobsters and crabs in all of their stores, as outlined in the 2006 article published on their website: www.wholefoodsmarket.com/mission-values/seafood-sustainability/whole-foods-market-stops-selling-live-lobsters

As your customers, we expect your stores to exhibit the same level of ethical standard, and that this matter be given the urgent attention and consideration that it deserves. For the reasons outlined in this letter, we urge Community Natural Foods to ban the sale of lobsters and all live animals.

Sincerely,

Concerned citizens of Calgary