Restaurant's seal burger leads to death threats

KAMOURASKA, Quebec, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- A Quebec restaurant owner said he has received death threats due to his menu offering a seal meat burger topped with foi gras.

Kim Cote said his Cote-Est restaurant in Kamouraska added the Phoque Bardot burger, named for the French word for "seal" and anti-seal hunting activist Brigitte Bardot, to the menu in 2012, but the backlash started in September when a French-language Facbeook group linked to his eatery's website with a comment that the menu item was made from the "meat of massacred baby seals," the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Wednesday.

Cote said the link led to a flurry of criticism on social media and some of the Facebook messages he received included death threats and threats of damage to the restaurant.

"We called the police to let them know what was happening. You never know, they are extremists. To go so far as to send death threats, threats to come damage our restaurant ... it's pretty intense," Cote said.

Cote said the meat he uses for the $17.40 burger is inspected by federal agents and is legal for sale. He said he has no plans to remove the burger from the menu.