You may think that Canada is a civilized country.

But it’s very difficult to comprehend how a civilized country could countenance, and even support, the killing of hundreds of thousands of baby harp seals each year at this time, on the ice floes on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, by members of the fishing industry. Yet that is what has been happening for years, and it’s scheduled to happen again, as early as next week. The defenseless seal pups are mercilessly clubbed to death for their skins, which, in some cases, are removed even before these youngsters take their last breaths. It’s unconscionable. It’s unimaginable. It’s barbaric. It is the world’s largest slaughter of marine mammals, with more than one million young seals killed during the last three years alone.

You can do something about it. But you must act now.

What can you do? You can sign the Humane Society of the Unites States-sponsored pledge not to buy Canadian seafood products such as snow crab, cod, scallops, and shrimp until Canada ends its commercial seal hunt for good.

I am one of more than 340,000 individuals who have taken the pledge, joined by restaurants in California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oregon, Texas and Vermont, including Legal Sea Foods, Whole Foods Market, Wild Oats Markets and Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Cafes.

I will be doing more than just boycotting Canadian seafood. I will not set food on Canadian soil as long as the seal hunt continues.