MTK Letters

To the Editor:

This Saturday, June 20th, the Montauk shark tournament will be held.

This being the 21st Century, and the world is facing the extinction of 50% of the world's species by the year 2050, it seems not only a cruel practice but a wrongheaded one altogether to have a festivity that involves the needless slaughter of sharks. Sharks are apex predators, and critical for the health of our oceans. Your readers may not know that too many sharks are hooked, gaffed, inspected for size and thrown back to die needlessly because they don't meet the size required to "win" such a tournament. The Humane Society of the United States and other conservancy groups have protested these kinds of hunts.

It is a substantiated fact that children will be growing up in a world with an impoverishment of biodiversity because of our inability to share this planet with our fellow creatures. If ever there were a time that children should be taught to respect life, not encouraged to waste it, this is it.

A rally will be held to protest this tournament on Saturday, June 20th, from 4-5PM at the intersection of West Lake Drive and Star Island Drive, Montauk. I encourage you and your readers to support this protest.

Sincerely yours,

April Gornik

North Haven, NY

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