PETA Global Issue 2

Let Lobsters ‘Rock On’! B-52s lead singer Fred Schneider tells PETA Global readers how he came to call lobsters “sea life , not sea food. ”

THE BIG FISH UE

Fish Illustration: © iStock.com/danleap | Lobster Illustration: © iStock.com/CSA Images | Fred Schneider: © Starmaxinc.com

W hile I was growing up in New Jersey, my family headed for the coast to see relatives near Toms River every summer. e’d go crabbing in their boat on the bay and bring in our catch for cooking. At the ripe age of 4, as I watched while live crabs were dumped into boiling water, I vowed never to eat them again. In the ’70s, the idea for the B-52s’ breakthrough hit “Rock Lobster” was sparked by a slide show at an Atlanta disco that showed puppies playing, children playing, and then lobsters on a grill. I was infuriated! But I thought, “Hmm, rock this, rock that … rock lobster!” I told the band, and we jammed on the title and came up with the song. Crustaceans are unfamiliar to us – I get it. With their exoskeletons, jointed legs, and long antennae, they certainly aren’t cuddly like dogs and cats are. Despite such differences, there’s something big that they have in common with us: the capacity to suffer. The idea of subjecting a fellow animal to a painful death for food has always haunted me, especially now, in light of the mounting evidence of their suffering. From observations

“The idea of subjecting a fellow animal to a painful death for food has always haunted me.”

of shore crabs who changed their behavior to avoid electric shocks and hermit crabs who rubbed at their own injuries, science has confirmed that these animals can feel pain, which is something that we humans have long tried to ignore. Fortunately, there are many cruelty-free options these days, from decadent vegan lobster bisque to crunchy vegan crab Rangoon and even a full sized vegan lobster. Please, let lobsters and crabs “rock on”!

– Fred Schneider

PETA Time Capsule: 1995 Longtime PETA supporter and vegetarian Mary Tyler Moore made headlines in 1995, when PETA enlisted her help to save a 65-year-old lobster named Spike from a restaurant tank and she offered to pay $1,000. “Marine biologists report that lobsters are fascinating beings with complex social

T I M E C A P S U L E

T I M E C A P S U L E

interactions, long childhoods, and awkward adolescences,” Mary wrote. “Like humans, they flirt with one another and have even been seen walking ‘claw-in-claw’!” PETA later worked with the producers of the Ellen sitcom to incorporate lobster liberation into an episode in which Ellen rescued a lobster from a restaurant and was later honored by none other than Mary Tyler Moore herself.

18 BOILING POINT