Flying Plea for Crustaceans Will Target Maine Lobster Festival

For Immediate Release:
August 4, 2022

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

An aerial banner from PETA will give attendees at the Maine Lobster Festival some claws for concern on Saturday and Sunday by flying overhead with the message “Lobsters Can Feel. Can You? Eat Vegan.” Similar food for thought will be delivered to lobster-serving restaurants in Portland on Saturday via a message-on-wheels asking diners, “If You Wouldn’t Eat Your Dog, Why Eat a Lobster?” The new statewide messaging blitz from PETA aims 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 is pulling out all the stops to encourage 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.

The airplane banner will fly over the festival in Rockland’s Harbor Park from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday (during the Big Parade) and from 12 noon to 1:30 p.m. on Sunday (during the Lobster Eating Contest). The mobile message will travel through Portland on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., targeting lobster restaurants such as DiMillo’s on the Water, Luke’s Lobster at Portland Pier, The Highroller Lobster Co., Portland Lobster Company, J’s Oyster, Becky’s Diner, Boone’s, Street and Co., and Scales.

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.