Send Viagra to Asia instead

Re Plan eyes revival of seal penis market, June 8 So, let me get this straight. Because more people around the world are becoming reluctant to wear the furs of our fellow creatures, the Canadian Fur Institute, in an effort to drum up business, wants to pander to the belief of some Asian buyers that dried, ground seal penises can make them great in bed?

Aren’t these the same buyers who are supporting the market for the horns of endangered rhinos? And gall bladders of illegally hunted bears? Penises of nearly extinct tigers? Brains of monkeys?

When is the rest of the world going to stop slaughtering our animals just to enable some superstitious men in China, Vietnam, Thailand and other Asian countries to feel more sexually potent?

Surely, we as Canadians, can rise above this kind of grotesque, crass commercialism that encourages the destruction of innocent and sometimes endangered animals just for a “sex powder” made from their body parts.

I, for one, am willing to start a non-profit organization, devoted to saving certain targeted species, by sending thousands of free boxes of Viagra to parts of Asia. It is a win-win solution: these poor animals will not be butchered and the Viagra may actually work. Marilyn Ginsburg, Thornhill

Apart from the questionable practice of seal hunting, does Canada want to be a part of perpetuating the myth that consuming certain animal parts has medicinal value or aids in enhancing sexual performance? Look at what is happening to rhinoceros, elephants, tigers, several species of bear and pangolins to name a few species that are killed, often barbarically and always senselessly, for their body parts.

Does Canada want to be associated with this ignorant belief? Donna Hamill, Toronto