Killing starfish for fun is dismaying
Re Hunting starfish, May 25
I was very dismayed by Jennifer Bain’s article.
It is one thing to find and dry a dead starfish but to teach children that it’s OK to hunt for and kill live ones, and call it “soft adventure,” seems to be the wrong lesson for our planet on which hundreds of species are on the brink of extinction.
Starfish are not edible, so you cannot say they are being killed for food. What’s next? Trophy hunting for lions?
Even if starfish are a nuisance to mussel and oyster farmers, is it right to teach children to hunt for them and kill them just to display them on a shelf? What acquisitiveness!
Why not create a soft adventure in which children can learn about the life cycle, habitat, physiology and food sources of a starfish, while observing them in their natural habitat?
The passenger pigeon, dodo bird and American bison were once plentiful but, due to human activity, the two former became extinct and the latter near-- extinct. And starfish throughout the Caribbean are endangered for several reasons:
Because they are slow-moving, they are easy prey for predators such as fish, crabs, rays and sharks.
Pollution and habitat degradation have also played a role in their decline.
And because tourists like to take starfish, especially dried ones as souvenirs, their population has been severely depleted.
Mara Glebovs, Toronto
How can writer Jennifer Bain and fisherman Perry Gotell think it is perfectly acceptable to kill starfish in the name of entertainment?
Starfish naturally occur in P.E.I. and are living sentient beings, and yet they think it is perfectly acceptable to remove them alive from the water and kill them for family fun!
Will the Travel section next week feature the joys of lion hunting in Africa? Caroline Folk, Thornhill
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