See How PETA Is Shaming Cruel Eateries That Serve Live Octopus
It’s perhaps one of the most vile and disturbingly cruel dishes ever created. Live octopuses are chopped apart limb by limb for “sannakji” and served to diners, with their arms still writhing. The chef keeps the animals alive—and in agony—until customers have ordered every one of their arms and then kills them by ripping open their mantle and tearing out their intestines. Several restaurants in Koreatown in Los Angeles serve sannakji, including T Equals Fish, which PETA investigated. To shame these restaurants for engaging in indefensible cruelty and to remind people considering eating sannakji of who they’ll be condemning to be chopped up alive, PETA has posted this billboard in English and Korean just steps away from the eateries:
PETA also purchased ad space in Toronto and erected this billboard near NOLBU, Marado Sushi, and Gal’s Sushi, which serve the live animal “dish” as well.
“[T]he octopus, which you’ve been chopping to pieces, is feeling pain every time you do it. It’s just as painful as if it were a hog, a fish, or a rabbit, if you chopped a rabbit’s leg off piece by piece. So it’s a barbaric thing to do to the animal.”
—Dr. Jennifer Mather, cephalopod expert
Octopuses are bright, curious, playful, and resourceful. They pass down knowledge and personality traits from one generation to the next. Some enjoy cuddling with each other. They possess long- and short-term memories, use tools, alter their appearances to camouflage themselves, and are brilliant escape artists. And they do not deserve to be chopped up alive and eaten.
Remember: Eating live animals—specifically sea life—is not only cruel, it can also be extremely dangerous for humans.
Stand up to cruelty. Urge lawmakers to ban sannakji now.
