Contact Information s11

CONTACT INFORMATION SAMPLE LETTER NEXT PAGE

COSTCO CORPORATE MAILING ADDRESS Mr. Jim Sinegal, CEO Costco Wholesale Corporation PO Box 34331 Seattle, WA 98124 USA General Member Service: 800-774-2678 (and press 6); fax: 425-313-8103 email: [email protected] web email: https://www.costco.com/CustomerService/EmailUs.aspx?secure=1

COSTCO CORPORATE OFFICE LOCATION Costco Wholesale Corporation 999 Lake Drive Issaquah, WA 98027

COSTCO EASTERN DIVISION AND CANADA Richard E. Duffy R.Ph., Assistant Vice President Costco Wholesale Corporation 45940 Horseshoe Drive Sterling, VA 20166 ph: 703-406-6924; fax: 703-406-6857 email: [email protected]

COPY: Costco Community Relations / Charitable Donations Muriel Cooper, Community Relations & Administration ph: 425-313-6182; email: [email protected]

Costco Membership / Marketing Kathy Tatman - ph: 425-313-2926; email: [email protected]

Investor Relations Contacts email: [email protected]

Richard Galanti, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer ph: 425-313-8203; fax: 425-313-6593

Bob Nelson, Vice President, Financial Planning & Investor Relations ph: 425-313-8255; fax: 425-313-6430

Jeff Elliott, Director, Financial Planning & Investor Relations ph: 425-313-8264; fax: 425-313-6430

ALL EMAILS IN THIS ALERT: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Dear Mr. Sinegal and Mr. Duffy,

I am disappointed to learn Costco chose to restock its St. John’s, Newfoundland warehouse with seal oil capsules, especially when Omega-3 fatty acids are easily obtained from plant sources. Costco’s decision seems cast for a relative handful of Newfoundland consumers, without consideration for the majority who oppose the annual slaughter of more than 325,000 seals.

I urge Costco to adopt an ethical policy. Seal oil capsules, misleadingly labeled “health” products, contain traces of PCB’s and heavy metals such as mercury. They are derived from seals whose systematic slaughter is detrimental to the marine ecology of the Northwest Atlantic. Please offer a supplement that is good for people, wildlife, and the environment.

Scientists have renounced Canada's management policy for harp seals as unsustainable, citing insufficient evidence to link harp seals with depleted fish stocks. "Certainly, no Department of Fisheries scientist thinks the seal had anything to do with the fishery's collapse," Dr. Jeffrey Hatchlings, a fishery biologist and former DO consultant, has stated. In fact, scientists are concerned that killing seals may hinder the recovery of ground fish stocks.

Yet the Canadian government continues to scapegoat seals and search for ways to market their remains. After the European Union banned whitecoat pelts in 1984, officials revitalized the industry with a “morally acceptable seal hunt” that lets sealers kill adult animals only. Under this restriction, seals who shed their white fur by three weeks of age are “adults.”

Up to 95% of harp seals slaughtered over the last five years were less than three months old. These still vulnerable pups can barely eat or swim on their own. Video footage depicts sealers hauling them over the ice with boathooks. Furthermore, sealers routinely violate regulations. In photographic images from 2005, the world viewed seals gunned down, pounded in the skull, kicked in the face, and thrashed with hakapiks. In 2001 a team of impartial veterinarians determined that 42% of examined seals did not suffer sufficient cranial injury to render them unconscious. They concluded the seals were likely cognizant when skinned alive.

As you know, seal commodities are banned in the United States, where Costco is headquartered. While Omega-3 seal oil capsules may appeal to one Canadian province, most consumers view them as an obscene product.

Polls indicate nearly 80% of Americans and Europeans disapprove of the seal hunt, with many committed to a boycott of Canadian seafood until it ends. Now, animal protection groups have initiated a boycott of all Costco outlets, as long as seal oil capsules remain on Newfoundland store shelves.

Bring on the flaxseed or hemp seed oils, but please leave the seals out of your supplements. I’d appreciate any feedback about plans to pull this offensive product from all Costco retail stores.

Thank you,