New PETA Video Escalates Plea to Save Crustaceans: ‘We’re Not Crabby—We’re Kind’

For Immediate Release:
March 27, 2023

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Baltimore –

Following its most recent billboard bout with Jimmy’s Famous Seafood, PETA is coming out swinging for crabs—who are feeling individuals, not food—in a new 30-second TV spot hitting airwaves this week, narrated by PETA President Ingrid Newkirk, urging everyone to see the crustaceans as intelligent, sensitive individuals and opt for vegan fare instead.

“When it comes to feeling pain and fear, a crab is no different from a cat, a dog, or a human being,” says Newkirk. “PETA is calling on diners to leave crabs in peace and off their plates and to support local restaurants that offer tasty vegan crab cuisine.”

In nature, crabs care attentively for their young, keep their homes clean, and defend neighboring crabs’ burrows against intruders. Captured crabs feel agonizing pain when their legs are damaged or torn off by workers quickly ripping them from fishing nets. Some mutilated crabs—who need their claws to feed and defend themselves—are tossed back into the ocean, where they suffer and die. The “survivors” end up in pots of scalding-hot water, where they’re boiled or steamed alive.

PETA points out there’s no need to eat crabs or other sea life with so many tasty vegan seafood options available online, in grocery stores, and in restaurants across the city. Celebrated local vegan eatery The Land of Kush was named a winner for its scrumptious crabless crab cakes on PETA’s first-ever list of the Top 10 Vegan Seafood Dishes. Other local restaurants known for delicious vegan crab cuisine include Refocused, Dodah’s Kitchen, Liora, and Harmony Bakery.

PETA’s video will air on the following channels and dates.

FOX/WBFF-TV: Monday (March 27) and Tuesday (March 28) evenings during Fox45 News at 10
ABC/WMAR-TV: Monday (March 27), Wednesday (March 29), and Friday (March 31) at 11:35 p.m. during Jimmy Kimmel Live!
CBS/WJZ-TV: Monday through Friday (March 27–31) during WJZ News at 11PM

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.