Written by Jeff Mackey
Just in time for the start of the cruel Maine Lobster Festival, PETA has revealed that it snuck a pro-lobster message into New England's iconic baseball stadium. Visitors to Fenway Park—home of the Boston Red Sox—can find the phrase hidden in one of the commemorative bricks there by combining the first letters of the words and reading what is spelled out:
That's right! It says, "Lobster Liberation," as a subtle reminder to shellfish-eaters to let the naturally long-lived crustaceans live those long lives major leagues under the sea, where they belong. Just as BoSox fans should be free to watch baseball games, lobsters should be allowed to pursue their own pleasures, free from the excruciating pain of being boiled alive.
No animal wants to end up on someone else's plate, so skip the lobster festival. Hit the Green Monster instead and eat green, not mean. You can choose from a number of delicious and humane vegetarian meals and snacks, such as the veggie dogs, veggie burgers, and vegetarian burritos that earned Fenway an honorable mention in this year's list of vegetarian-friendly MLB parks. And when someone you know is craving lobster? Don't mock them—tell them to eat mock seafood, instead!
Vegan faux lobster is delicious and all the sweeter for being both cholesterol- and cruelty-free. Want a special treat to pack the next time you're in the stands? Try this delicious recipe—you'll hit it out of the park:
Mock Lobster Salad
1 mock lobster from May Wah
1/3 cup Vegenaise
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp. chopped shallots
1/2 Tbsp. chopped tarragon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 cup salad greens
1 avocado, pitted, peeled, and rubbed with lemon juice
Hot dog buns (optional)
Cook the mock lobster in boiling water, then set aside to cool.
(By the way, if your idea of a great game runs more to PS3 than MLB, be sure to try your hand at liberating lobsters with PETA's free online game.)
Written by PETA
A group of Tibetan Buddhists now have 534 times the good karma—for their good intentions, anyway. The group gathered at the fishing hub of Gloucester, Massachusetts, on the anniversary of the first sermon that Buddha taught, and they purchased 534 lobsters, sailed out into the Atlantic, and set them free. One lobster liberator said: "It's rethinking the way you normally see these creatures. You're supposed to view them equally. Their happiness is as important as your happiness, their suffering is as important as your suffering."
The group's hearts were in the right place, and the lobsters undoubtedly appreciated a second chance at freedom. But the seafood wholesaler they purchased the animals from profited from the sale and will no doubt continue plying his trapping trade, while the lobsters risk being caught again and ending up in a pot of boiling water. PETA sent a letter to the group suggesting that instead of purchasing lobsters next year, they could potentially save even more animals by asking all their members to go vegan for a day—and preferably beyond.
Considering that every vegan saves more than 100 animals a year, going vegan is one of the most important things that any of us can do to prevent suffering. Get started improving your karma today by ordering a free vegetarian/vegan starter kit.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
The last sardine cannery in the U.S. (located in Prospect Harbor, Maine) is about to close its doors, which is great news for the tiniest fish sea kittens. But another company that cuts up and packages lobsters and other sea animals wants to buy the cannery. As we all know, marine animals suffer when they are snagged on hooks, crushed in massive nets, pulled up from their ocean homes, and even boiled alive. Talk about news that'll make your Monday blue.
PETA is urging Maine Gov. John Baldacci to "can the cruelty" and turn the plant into a blueberry cannery instead. Maine produces a quarter of the country's blueberries, so switching to that business would support the local economy and let the cannery workers keep their jobs—not to mention save the lives of countless lobsters and other sea animals. Let's hope Gov. Baldacci says, "Can we do it? Yes we can (blueberries)!"
Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post
We've already got crustacean cheer up in here—now it's time to send it to the Kiwis. The Auckland Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and SAFE have shut down Catcha Cray game machines in three pubs in New Zealand's largest city! The organizations also plan to take legal action to get the machines banned in all the bars in Auckland and its surrounding area.
Like Lobster Zone machines in American bars and restaurants, the Catcha Cray allows patrons use a metal claw to try to catch crayfish in a crowded tank. "These machines may 'catch' them 30 times before they're finally dragged out of the machine—that's causing them considerable stress," says Mandy Carter, a campaign officer for SAFE. She adds, "Public support has been overwhelming, and we have been extremely heartened by the comments of support and encouragement being sent by many New Zealanders." Americans, too, are collectively outraged to learn about this abuse disguised as a "game," and thanks to the outcry, Lobster Zone games have been pulled from establishments across the U.S.
Help us continue to stop the cruelty by urging another lobster-tormenting Illinois bar to abandon the violent machines.
Written by Logan Scherer
2010 is already shaping up to be a clawsome year for lobsters! First, Kalahari Resorts dropped Lobster Zone machines from all its locations, and now Doc Ryan's—a bar in Illinois—has also made the humane choice to remove the "game." After we urged people to take action, it took a mere 24 hours (take that, Jack Bauer!) for Doc Ryan's owner, Brian Sullivan, to decide to abandon the machines altogether. After speaking with a concerned customer, Sullivan learned about the cruelty behind the Lobster Zone game and, as an animal lover, told us he would never want to promote a machine that torments lobsters. For Sullivan's swift act of compassion, we're sending him flowers.
The Lobster Zone is an arcade-like "game" that allows its users to grab at terrified lobsters using a joystick-controlled crane. Once caught, the lobsters are dropped down a chute before they're boiled or cut up alive. Restaurants owners often aren't aware of the cruelty inherent in these machines. Lobsters are naturally very solitary animals. In the wild, they take long-distance seasonal journeys and can cover 100 miles or more each year. They become miserable and sick when they're confined to tiny, filthy tanks. Helping lobsters at bars and restaurants can be as easy as telling a restaurant's manager or owner these compelling facts and asking everyone you know to do the same. (And when that doesn't work, PETA will take the case!)
P.S. We've also learned that Doc Ryan's serves a delicious veggie burger (and is open to even more vegan suggestions), so the next time you're near Forest Park, Illinois, be sure to thank Brian Sullivan by stopping in for dinner.
Let's get some crustacean cheers up in here—Kalahari Resorts is removing all Lobster Zone "games" from its locations in Wisconsin and Ohio.
The Lobster Zone, found in some bars and restaurants, allows patrons to grab at lobsters and pluck one out of a machine using a joystick-controlled crane with an attached claw. Caught lobsters are dropped down a chute like a cheap trinket, subsequently boiled or cut up while they are still alive, and then eaten. After receiving calls from Kalahari Resort patrons who were dismayed at the filthy living conditions of the lobsters in the Lobster Zone machine and reported that the animals were attempting to flee the claw whenever it was in motion, we sent a letter to the president of Kalahari Resorts, Todd Nelson, urging him to remove the game. It wasn't until PETA supporters themselves wrote Nelson that he decided to drop the machine. To everyone who took action, thank you.
Lobsters feel pain just as other animals do, and they are naturally very solitary animals. In the wild, they spend months buried in the sand, coming out briefly to forage and then returning to the safety of their homes. They should never be forced to languish in crowded, filthy tanks. If you ever see a Lobster Zone game or a lobster tank in a store or a restaurant, talk to the manager, write a letter to the owner, and tell everyone you know to take action.
Tourists are flocking to Kiryat Yam, Israel, in hopes of spotting a mermaid who has reportedly been seen frolicking during sunset swims, and the Town Council is offering a $1 million reward for anyone who can provide a photograph that proves Ariel's kin are kicking back on local beaches.
If it's a photo of a mermaid they want, we'd be happy to oblige. We're offering to run our stunning "Make a Splash—Go Vegetarian" ad, which makes the case that, like mermaids, fish sea kittens, lobsters, crabs, and other animals of the sea deserve to be treated with compassion and respect.
If you would shun a plate of poached mermaid, why not let Nemo and his buddies off the hook too?
Written by Alisa Mullins
Most of us are feeling the strain of the recession, but schools seem to be among the hardest hit. Teachers are left struggling to put together lesson plans and scrape up materials on a tight budget. Enter TeachKind, a humane-education resource for teachers, administrators, and librarians who want to help students become kinder, more compassionate individuals.
Now I may be a bit biased—I am the TeachKind coordinator, after all—but this is a program that no educator can afford to miss. Our TeachKind Web site offers free lesson plans and materials, including books, DVDs, videos, magazines, comic books, posters, stickers, and more. And as if that weren't enough, we offer step-by-step advice on how to combat issues involving cruelty to animals, and we have a new program that helps educators form effective animal rights groups at their schools.
I could go on about TeachKind for hours, but if you have any questions, e-mail us at Info@TeachKind.org. And if you know any teachers, be sure to tell them about TeachKind and encourage them to sign up for our Teacher's Network, which features new lesson plans, ideas for incorporating animal rights issues into the classroom, and information about exciting contests and giveaways.
Oh, and because you're probably wishing that you had become a teacher right about now, check out this video to get you through to 5 p.m.
Written by Liz Graffeo
Last night we learned that City Crab and Seafood in New York City was attempting to sell a 140-year-old, 20-pound lobster to customers for dinner. We immediately contacted the restaurant and spoke with Manager Mitchell Rosen. Rosen let us know that they are unsure what their plans are for the lobster (they may keep him in his tank and "spare him" death), but have refused to hand him over to PETA to be released back into the ocean. Whatever happened to respecting your elders? And—you know—not eating them?
Because of the lobster's sophisticated nervous system and high sensitivity to pain, boiling lobsters alive is completely illegal in some cities, such as Reggio, Italy (where offenders face a $600 fine!). But, unfortunately, more than 20 million lobsters are killed and eaten every year in the U.S. alone.
Even if City Crab takes the lobster off the menu, by keeping him in captivity they are likely sentencing him to death. Because lobsters are sensitive to water quality, they easily die if too much waste is created in their environment. In order to prevent the lobsters' excrement from contaminating the tank water with ammonia, merchants normally do not feed lobsters, so the animals often starve or are reduced to attacking each other.
This lobster lived in the ocean for over a century, and we think he deserves to spend the remainder of his life in peace in his natural habitat—not in a pot of boiling water or a cramped, dirty tank. Since City Crab needs some persuading to release the supercentenarian lobster, we've contacted its parent company, Branded Restaurants USA. Hopefully the executives will show some compassion for this 140-year-old survivor! You can check out our full letter here.
Update: I just heard from my friend Harald at PETA Germany that the kind soul who rescued the lobsters is a PETA Germany activist! So, if you’re reading this, anonymous German lobster-liberating activist: Danke! From der bottom of mein heart.
It’s been a good month for lobsters. Well, insofar as it’s possible to have a good month when your people are routinely boiled alive and made into bisque. Let’s call it a “slightly better” month than usual. First, a study published in New Scientist proved what we all know already: that lobsters feel pain (scientists are sometimes a bit slower to catch on than the rest of us—they are a methodical people). And now, there’s news from Stuttgart, Germany, that dozens of lobsters escaped from an Asian supermarket out into the street, where they were rescued and sent to an animal sanctuary. Here’s how our good friends at Der Spiegel described the incident:
“The clawed crustaceans, some of them up to 15 centimeters long, managed to crawl out of their crates, which had been poorly secured with wire mesh, then scurried across the floor of the supermarket and squeezed through the metal shutters covering the front of the store. The front door had been left open by mistake.”
Congratulations, lobsters! We’re all pulling for you. We’re all pulling for you. And for more on this story, Stephen Colbert, ladies and gentlemen:
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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