July 28, 2025 — Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has sued the Maine Lobster Festival and the City of Rockland, asking a court to declare the event a public nuisance and ban the steaming of live lobsters on public property.
Filed in Knox County Superior Court, the lawsuit claims the multi-week festivities of the Maine Lobster Festival deprives local PETA members from accessing Harbor Park “without being forced to witness extreme animal suffering as approximately 16,000 live lobsters are illegally tormented and killed at the festival each year.”