‘I’m ME, Not MEAT,’ Proclaims Lobster on New PETA Ads

As Lobster Season Begins, Ads on Bus Shelters Urge People to See All Animals as Individuals and Go Vegan

For Immediate Release:
December 18, 2018

Contact:
Audrey Shircliff 202-483-7382

As lobster season begins in Nova Scotia—Canada’s top seafood exporter—PETA has placed ads featuring a lobster declaring, “I’m ME, Not MEAT. See the Individual. Go Vegan,” on bus shelters in Halifax and Dartmouth.

The ads are located across the street from the Atlantic Superstore on Joseph Howe Drive (which sells live lobsters) and on Barrington Street near Halifax City Hall (near several lobster-serving restaurants) in Halifax and on Windmill Road just down the street from Victoria Park Playground in Dartmouth, and they’ll be up through the first week of January.

“Just like humans, lobsters feel pain and fear, have unique personalities, and value their own lives,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA’s ads encourage everyone to spare these animals the agony of being boiled alive simply by choosing vegan meals.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—notes that lobsters are intelligent individuals who explore their surroundings, can remember individual lobsters, and use complex signals to establish social relationships. If left alone, they can live to be more than 100 years old. A PETA investigation of a crustacean slaughterhouse revealed that live lobsters were impaled, torn apart, and decapitated—even as their legs continued to move. Chefs typically place live lobsters into pots of boiling water while they’re still conscious—a cruel practice that has recently been banned in Switzerland.

PETA offers a free vegan starter kit (available here) full of recipes, tips, and more. For more information, please visit PETA.org.