Crab Rides the Bus Ahead of Seafood Festival

For Immediate Release:
September 1, 2022

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

“I’m ME, not MEAT.” That’s the message from a crab who appears on the popular Casino Hopper trolley—as well as on a local bus and two bus shelters—ahead of the annual Biloxi Seafood Festival. The can’t-be-missed PETA appeal urges everyone to “see the individual” behind every crab boil and opt for vegan fare instead.

“When it comes to feeling pain and fear, a crab is no different from a dog, a cat, or a human being,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA’s ‘Let Them Keep Their Claws’ campaign encourages everyone to choose vegan dishes like crab-free cakes and let real crabs live.”

 Crabs are small but smart animals who value their lives, yet every year, despite a wealth of food choices, hundreds of millions of crabs are caught and killed for food in the U.S. alone. A PETA investigation into a crustacean slaughterhouse revealed that live crabs and lobsters were impaled, torn apart, and decapitated—even as their legs continued to move.

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 ads appear on the Demand Response bus and two bus shelters (1442 and 1701 Beach Blvd., Biloxi).

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—notes that many faux-fish options are available today, such as Sophie’s Kitchen’s Plant-Based Crab Cakes, Gardein’s F’sh Filets, Good Catch’s Plant-Based Tuna, and New Wave Foods’ vegan shrimp.

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