Stone Crab Industry Feels Pinch as Vegan Plea Hits Airwaves in Orlando

For Immediate Release:
August 1, 2022

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

After a PETA exposé of Florida’s stone crab industry revealed workers tearing claws off live crabs and tossing the mutilated animals back into the ocean, PETA is hitting local radio airwaves with an emergency plea to choose compassionate vegan seafood instead. The 30-second spot will run until Friday on iHeart Radio’s Magic 107.7 station, reminding listeners that “crabs feel pain and fear, have thoughts, and value their own lives.”

“Crabs are hauled out of the water, torn apart, and tossed overboard to endure a painful death without the claws they need to defend and feed themselves,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA urges everyone to stand up for crabs, keep sea life off their plates, and make the switch to vegan crab cakes instead.”

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has “found a very high mortality rate associated with declawing,” discovering that 40.8% of crabs died after one claw was torn off and that 62.9% died after both claws were torn off. An Everglades National Park Service study found that more than three-quarters of stone crab deaths caused by this cruelty occurred within 24 hours. Many more crabs, unable to defend themselves or obtain necessary food, will suffer and die.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—notes that today, many healthy and delicious vegan options exist, from Sophie’s Kitchen’s Plant-Based Crab Cakes to Good Catch’s plant-based tuna and New Wave Foods’ new plant-based shrimp.

For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.