Christmas Shoppers Asked: ‘If You Wouldn’t Eat Your Dog, Why Eat a Lobster?’
As many plan to visit the fish markets this festive season, PETA’s half-puppy, half-lobster hybrid will give shoppers food for thought. The billboards in Lewisham, Rozelle, and Seaforth, NSW are challenging viewers to question why we kill and consume lobsters when we wouldn’t dream of doing the same to dogs.
Lobsters feel pain and fear – in all the ways that matter, they’re the same as the companion animals with whom many Australians share their homes. They don’t deserve to be boiled to death any more than a puppy does.
Lobsters are intelligent individuals who explore their surroundings, can remember other lobsters, and use complex signals to establish social relationships. If left alone, they can live for over 100 years. A PETA US investigation into a crustacean slaughterhouse revealed that live lobsters were impaled, torn apart, and decapitated – even as their legs continued to move. Chefs typically place lobsters in pots of boiling water while still conscious – a practice so cruel that it has been banned in Switzerland. Before being cooked, lobsters are sometimes kept on ice, which is so painful that Italy has banned it.
‘If You Wouldn’t Eat Your Dog, Why Eat a Lobster?’
Confront this double standard and go vegan. Now is a great time to pack away our speciesism, realise that a lobster’s life is just as valuable to them as ours are to us, and celebrate a vegan Christmas. The holidays are a time of joy and peace, which should be extended to all.
Let’s make 2025 a historic year for animals
