Update: District Attorney Responds to PETA Criminal Complaint
Update: PETA received word today that the district attorney’s office will not file cruelty charges against Linda Bean’s Maine Lobster (LBML) slaughterhouse after PETA revealed that workers tore fully concious lobsters and crabs apart. The district attorney doesn’t believe that invertebrates are protected under Maine’s cruelty-to-animals statute, which our reading shows applies to all sentient animals. PETA will be taking that up with his office in an attempt to change his mind and point out that all animals—including complex, sensitive lobsters and crabs who absolutely do feel pain—are indeed protected from such egregious, illegal cruelty.
We need your help. Please watch the video below and urge Linda Bean to at least switch to a less cruel method of killing animals. The best thing that anyone can do is to stop eating crabs and lobsters—or at the very least, to stop buying from Linda Bean until a more humane slaughter method is introduced. That’s not too much to ask.
Originally posted on September 19, 2013.
PETA delivered a detailed criminal complaint to authorities in Maine after revealing stomach-turning undercover video footage captured in Linda Bean’s Maine Lobster (LBML) slaughterhouse. PETA’s nine-page complaint cites 38 incidents captured on video during our investigation related to apparent violations of Maine’s cruelty-to-animals law.
Watch Now
PETA’s groundbreaking investigation revealed that workers at LBML routinely rip and tear the legs, heads, and shells off live lobsters and break apart conscious crabs’ shells with sharp spikes before violently scrubbing off their internal organs with stiff-bristled brushes. Each lobster’s claws and tail are saved, while the rest of the body is dumped in bins and left to writhe in agony. The crabs who have been torn apart are still alive when they’re lowered slowly into boiling water.
Stop the Mutilation
Other lobster-processing plants use less cruel methods of killing the animals, such as hydrostatic pressure—the method used at Shucks Maine Lobster in Richmond—which Bean once relied on, reportedly because she recognized it as more humane. PETA requested to meet privately with Bean or her staff prior to releasing the results of our investigation but has still not received a response.
Of course, we’d rather lobsters and crabs were left in peace, but there’s no excuse for a big company—with the ability to kill them instantly—to kill them slowly and cruelly instead. Maine’s laws need to be enforced, and those who are dismembering and mutilating live animals should be prosecuted.
What You Can Do
Please urge Linda Bean to stop the suffering and implement faster, less painful ways of killing crabs and lobsters. Click on the button below to act today!
