SCI’s eNewsletter Edition | May 2018 | Vol. 2A Toronto restaurant has been the target of repeated protests by animal rightists bearing signs with messages saying “MURDER” and “killing and eating animals is horrifying.”
The co-owner of Antlers, a restaurant that specializes in wild foods native to Canada including wild game, apparently became fed-up with the nonsense.
A March 28 PJ Media article said co-owner and chef Michael Hunter decided to conduct a little protest of his own by giving the protesters a lesson in the butchering process. He chose the hind quarter of a deer as his project, and the front picture window of the restaurant as his stage.
According to the article, an animal rights activist filmed the event and provided commentary as he filmed. “To taunt the activists, he’s brought the leg of a recently murdered deer,” the activist, Len Goldberg, whined plaintively as fellow protesters held a sign under the meat-cutting display that read, “MURDER.”
“Don’t even know if this is legal for him to be doing this,” Goldberg fretted. “I don’t know what he thinks this will achieve.”
Goldberg continued his diatribe following the arrival of police officers. In comments to BlogTO, Goldberg said: “I’m not sure if the police were telling the owner to stop trying to anger the protesters, or for ethical or health and safety violations. I just think this is very disturbing.”
When asked for comment by BlogTO, Chef Hunter responded: “Our identity as a restaurant is well known throughout the city as is our ethical farming and foraging initiatives…While we would much rather not be the focus of these protests, we are not at all surprised. We simply want to carry on running a restaurant and have a peaceful environment where our guests can enjoy their food,” he added.
According to the PJ Media article, the protests against Antlers has had a positive effect, noting that: “In fact, one commenter on the protesters’ Facebook page wrote: ‘Antlers is now the hottest restaurant in Toronto thanks to you guys. Congrats.’ Most — if not all — of the other commenters on the animal rights activists’ forum expressed similar sentiments.”
