Giant ‘Octopus’ to Protest Eating Animals Alive in Queens

PETA Will Call On Restaurants to Stop Serving Live Sea Animals

For Immediate Release:
May 30, 2017

Contact:
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382

What:    On Wednesday, a giant costumed “octopus” will lead PETA members in a lively protest outside Sik Gaek—one of at least two restaurants in Queens where sea animals are served to diners while still alive and writhing. The protesters will display photographs from a recent PETA exposé that revealed how octopuses are prepared for “sannakji”: Chefs cut off one tentacle at a time until all the limbs have been severed and only then rip out the octopus’s organs to cause a slow, painful death.

When:    Wednesday, May 31, 4 p.m.

Where:    Sik Gaek, 161-29 Crocheron Ave., Flushing, Queens

“Octopuses have sophisticated nervous systems that are rich with pain receptors, so they suffer immensely when chopped up and eaten alive,” says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA is calling on diners to stay away from any restaurant that serves sensitive, living, writhing animals.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any other way”—has gathered video footage showing chefs cutting the tails off shrimp and lobsters and serving them alongside their writhing bodies. Some restaurants specialize in hot pots, in which octopuses, lobsters, and other animals are slowly steamed to death as they try desperately to escape.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.