September 17, 2013 — A controversial animals-rights group is targeting a Maine lobster processor for what it considers inhumane slaughtering methods, although it's unclear whether the methods are outside the industry's standards.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals plans to release video footage Tuesday that it says was taken in a processing plant in Maine, the state that's synonymous with lobster.
The organization, which has conducted and publicized hidden-camera investigations into factory farming of chickens and dairy cows, among other animals, called the methods shown in the video cruel. It said it plans to file a complaint with local authorities Tuesday alleging that the lobster processing plant violates Maine's animal cruelty statute.
However, there are no state or federal laws that govern how a lobster should be killed during processing, and it has not been established whether crustaceans feel pain.
The video, captured with a hidden camera by a PETA investigator who worked at the plant briefly, shows an unidentified worker grabbing a squirming lobster.
He rips off one claw, then another. He then takes the body and drives it against a sharp stake mounted to a machine, which separates the shell surrounding the head and body. The lobster twitches after its limbs are taken off.
"Are they still alive when they go through there?" the camera operator asks.
"Oh yeah," the worker replies.
Later in the video, piles of lobsters wriggle in a giant crate — presumably alive — although their claws, legs and shells have been removed.
Although PETA has told the Portland Press Herald where it was shot, the video does not identify the facility. The Press Herald is not identifying it because the newspaper could not independently verify the location on Monday. PETA said it will publicly identify the processor on Tuesday.
Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald