January 28, 2026 — A lawsuit brought by animal rights activist organization PETA against the Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland, Maine, U.S.A., was dismissed on 26 January.
In the lawsuit, filed 28 July 2025, the group asked the court to declare the festival a public nuisance. Additionally, PETA claimed the festival made an “unavoidable spectacle out of cruelty to animals” and asked the judge to issue a permanent injunction prohibiting the steaming of live lobsters on public lands.