Linda Bean Strikes Out With the Sea Dogs

This season, there will be a sea change in the menu at Hadlock Field, home of the Portland Sea Dogs. After learning from PETA about Linda Bean’s Maine Lobster (LBML)—whose products appeared in the park’s concessions last season and which was the subject of a PETA undercover investigation that showed lobsters and crabs who were writhing after being mutilated—the Sea Dogs have decided not to offer lobster from the company this season.

“Since consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about animal-welfare issues, the Sea Dogs’ menu change is a smart and ethical business decision,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on all businesses across the U.S. to stop working with any company that tears live lobsters apart, as documented at Linda Bean’s Maine Lobster processing plant.”

Although more modern and less painful systems for slaughtering lobsters and crabs are available, LBML uses crude and cruel methods that result in agonizing deaths for millions of crustaceans. In footage gathered by PETA, LBML workers are shown slamming live crabs’ faces onto spikes, tearing off their top shells, and then pressing their exposed organs and flesh against stiff bristles. Lobsters have their legs, heads, and shells torn off while they are still conscious and can feel pain—and they remain alive and writhing long after they’ve been dismembered.

Hadlock Field joins other major and minor league sporting arenas—including Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins, and TD Garden, home of the Boston Celtics and Bruins—in dropping LBML products from the menu.