Thanks to the Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard for pointing out the obvious double standard being employed by PETA when it comes to the group’s view of boiling and eating lobsters. Bedard noted that here’s what PETA posted on its blog last summer, along with a photo of the brick to which the post refers:
Just in time for the start of the cruel Maine Lobster Festival, PETA has revealed that it snuck a pro-lobster message into New England’s iconic baseball stadium. Visitors to Fenway Park—home of the Boston Red Sox—can find the phrase hidden in one of the commemorative bricks there by combining the first letters of the words and reading what is spelled out:
That’s right! It says, “Lobster Liberation,” as a subtle reminder to shellfish-eaters to let thenaturally long-lived crustaceans live those long lives major leagues under the sea, where they belong. Just as BoSox fans should be free to watch baseball games, lobsters should be allowed to pursue their own pleasures, free from the excruciating pain of being boiled alive.
No animal wants to end up on someone else’s plate, so skip the lobster festival. Hit the Green Monster instead and eat green, not mean. You can choose from a number of delicious and humane vegetarian meals and snacks, such as the veggie dogs, veggie burgers, and vegetarian burritos that earned Fenway an honorable mention in this year’s list of vegetarian-friendly MLB parks. And when someone you know is craving lobster? Don’t mock them—tell them to eat mock seafood, instead!
Fast forward to a letter PETA sent just days ago to the White House executive chef about the administration’s ongoing practice of serving of lobster at events. It seems that when it’s the White House doing the serving and eating, chowing down on lobster is fine with PETA — as long as you kill them faster. Here’s part of PETA’s news release.
Washington — PETA is asking White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford to use an invention called the Crustastun to stun lobsters, crabs, and other shellfish and kill them within seconds prior to cooking them. As PETA explains in its letter, multiple physiological and behavioral studies have indicated that lobsters feel pain: They possess a central nervous system, and their neurochemical system, used in pain perception, shares many features with that of humans. They likely suffer every second of the three long minutes that it takes for them to die in boiling water. The Crustastun is an easy-to-use device in which the animal is placed in a small saltwater tank and is instantly stunned into unconsciousness by an electrical current with the push of a button. Lobsters die within five seconds and crabs within 10 seconds.
“Like all animals, shellfish feel pain, and they suffer immensely when they are thrown into a boiling pot and scalded to death,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA hopes the White House chef will set an example for chefs across the country by switching to the Crustastun, sparing the hundreds of lobsters killed for White House dinners the agony of being boiled alive.”
