Drive-By Plea for Crustaceans Will Target Key West Lobsterfest

For Immediate Release:
August 11, 2022

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

A mobile message from PETA will dish up some food for thought at the Key West Lobsterfest on Saturday: “If you wouldn’t eat your dog, why eat a lobster?” The on-the-go billboard will encircle the festival all day to urge everyone to think of the individual behind each lobster roll and opt for vegan fare instead.

“When it comes to feeling pain and fear, a lobster is no different from a dog, a cat, or a human,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA’s mobile message encourages people to enjoy a delicious vegan meal that leaves sea life in peace.” 

Lobsters are intelligent individuals who explore their surroundings, can remember other individual lobsters, and use complex signals to establish social relationships. If left alone, they can live to be more than 100 years old. A PETA investigation into a crustacean slaughterhouse revealed that live lobsters were impaled, torn apart, and decapitated—even as their legs continued to move. Chefs typically place lobsters into pots of boiling water while they’re still conscious—a practice so cruel that it was banned in Switzerland.

Each person who goes vegan saves the lives of nearly 200 animals a year; dramatically shrinks their carbon footprint; reduces their risk of developing heart disease, cancer, and diabetes; and helps prevent future pandemics. SARS, swine flu, bird flu, and COVID-19 all stemmed from confining or killing animals for food.

PETA’s mobile billboard will circle the festival in the 100 through 500 blocks of Duval Street from 12 noon to 8 p.m. on Saturday.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.