ROCKLAND, Maine — July 11, 2014 — “What we have been witnessing for months is a truly radicalized organization, PETA, launching a campaign in Maine,” Bean said. “Many here in Maine are seeing it as a full-scale attack on the lobster industry.”
Maine lobster industry leader Linda Bean said the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is waging a full-scale attack on the lobster industry.
Bean responded Thursday by email about the international animal rights organization that has criticized Bean’s lobster processing plant method as horrific abuse for the crustaceans. PETA took credit this week for causing Delaware North Companies to stop buying Bean’s lobsters. Delaware North provides concessions to Target Field, the Minnesota Twins stadium that is hosting this year’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game, and TD Garden in Boston, home of the Bruins and Celtics.
“What we have been witnessing for months is a truly radicalized organization, PETA, launching a campaign in Maine,” Bean said. “Many here in Maine are seeing it as a full-scale attack on the lobster industry.”
She maintained that her processing plant in Rockland processes lobsters virtually the same way as most other plants in Maine and Canada.
“The lobster industry is too important a pillar in Maine’s economy to allow this to continue. Thousands of Maine jobs are affected in key industries including our fisheries, maritime businesses, wholesale and retail markets, tourism, and Maine’s very active restaurant industry. Maine would not be the same if it lost this vital industry that supports and sustains so many jobs and families,” she said.
The lobster company owner said the attack by PETA comes on the heels of the Maine Legislature voting to spend millions of dollars for a new marketing effort to grow markets for the state’s most valuable seafood.
Read the full story at Bangor Daily News