Group Counters New England Lobster Festival With Engraved Brick Encouraging Bostonians to Let Lobsters Live in Peace
For Immediate Release:
July 31, 2012
Contact:
Shakira Croce 202-483-7382
Boston -- As the Maine Lobster Festival comes to New England, PETA is unveiling the hidden lobster rights message that it snuck into Fenway Park through the purchase of one of the commemorative bricks that the stadium offered for sale, inscription, and permanent display in honor of its 100th anniversary. Fenway Park is now home to a brick that reads, "Lead Our Bo Sox To Early Runs! Late Inning Blasts! Easy Routs! A Trophy In Our Name!"—the initial letters of each word spell out "LOBSTER LIBERATION." PETA hopes its message will encourage Boston residents to skip cruelly produced lobster dishes in favor of vegetarian meals, such as the veggie dogs and meatless burritos available at Fenway's concession stands. PETA's brick has been placed in the concourse Gate C, Jim Rice Section 7.
"PETA's brick is designed to remind everyone that lobsters feel pain and suffer when they're boiled alive," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "By sticking to veggie burgers—or mock lobster—Red Sox fans can give all animals something to cheer about."
According to Dr. Jaren G. Horsley, Ph. D., an invertebrate zoologist, lobsters have a "sophisticated nervous system" and feel "a great deal of pain" when they are cut open. When dropped into scalding water, they whip their bodies wildly and scrape the sides of the pot in a desperate attempt to escape. And because lobsters do not enter a state of shock when they are hurt, they are believed to feel every moment of their slow, painful deaths when they are cooked alive—a practice that researcher Gordon Gunter described in the journal Science as "torture."
Diners seeking vegetarian meals at Fenway Park have a lot to choose from. In addition to veggie dogs and burritos, Fenway's concession stands offer veggie burgers, veggie tacos, vegetarian sushi, hummus, fresh fruits and vegetables, smoothies, French fries, salads, popcorn, nuts, and more.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.