Red Lobster in Hot Water: Giant Crustacean to Lead Rally at St. Louis Restaurant

For Immediate Release:
March 26, 2026

Contact:
Andrew Grant 202-483-7382

In recognition of World Day for the End of Fishing (March 28), a costumed “crying lobster”—joined by PETA supporters, along with members of Project Animal Freedom—will descend on Red Lobster on Saturday, holding a banner that reads, “No One Wants to be Scalded Alive.” The unmissable plea will point out that lobsters feel pain and terror just as humans do, and urge everyone to leave them in peace by going vegan.

“Lobsters may not look like you or me, but they are intelligent, complex individuals who should be respected rather than torn from their ocean homes and killed for a fleeting taste,” says PETA Founder Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA urges everyone to consider who is on their plates and please, choose vegan.”

Newkirk stopped eating lobsters some 50 years ago when, at her birthday party in a fancy restaurant, she chose one to be broiled alive under the grill and later realized that she had taken a life – no doubt precious to its owner – to celebrate her own birth.

Where: Outside Red Lobster, 5733 S. Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis (near the intersection of Five Oaks Parkway and Lindbergh Boulevard)

When: Saturday, March 28, 12 Noon

Why: Like humans, lobsters can recognize other individual lobsters, carry their babies for about nine months, and can live over 100 years. They also have complex nervous systems and feel intense pain when dismembered, boiled, or steamed alive, which one researcher described as “torture.” PETA’s website features a list of the best vegan seafood brands and a free vegan starter kit for anyone thinking of making the switch.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.