Victory! Kalahari Resorts Drop Lobster Zone Machines
Let’s get some crustacean cheers up in here—Kalahari Resorts is removing all Lobster Zone “games” from its locations in Wisconsin and Ohio.
The Lobster Zone, found in some bars and restaurants, allows patrons to grab at lobsters and pluck one out of a machine using a joystick-controlled crane with an attached claw. Caught lobsters are dropped down a chute like a cheap trinket, subsequently boiled or cut up while they are still alive, and then eaten. After receiving calls from Kalahari Resort patrons who were dismayed at the filthy living conditions of the lobsters in the Lobster Zone machine and reported that the animals were attempting to flee the claw whenever it was in motion, we sent a letter to the president of Kalahari Resorts, Todd Nelson, urging him to remove the game. It wasn’t until PETA supporters themselves wrote Nelson that he decided to drop the machine. To everyone who took action, thank you.
Lobsters feel pain just as other animals do, and they are naturally very solitary animals. In the wild, they spend months buried in the sand, coming out briefly to forage and then returning to the safety of their homes. They should never be forced to languish in crowded, filthy tanks. If you ever see a Lobster Zone game or a lobster tank in a store or a restaurant, talk to the manager, write a letter to the owner, and tell everyone you know to take action.
Written by Logan Scherer
