Will Norfolk Crab and Lobster Festival Go Vegan?

For Immediate Release:
14 May 2020

Contact:

Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 222; [email protected]

WILL NORFOLK CRAB AND LOBSTER FESTIVAL GO VEGAN?

Following Coronavirus Cancellation, PETA Calls for Animal-Friendly Celebration in 2021

Norfolk – After learning that this year’s Crab & Lobster Festival  – an annual celebration of coastal towns Cromer and Sheringham – has been cancelled amid the coronavirus pandemic, PETA is urging the festival committee to start a new tradition by shifting to plant-based seafood.

“Because COVID-19 emerged from a market where live and dead animals were sold for food, festivals that celebrate eating animals should be a thing of the past,” says PETA Director of Vegan Corporate Projects Dawn Carr. “PETA is calling on the Crab & Lobster Festival to shift the focus of future festivals from eating the local wildlife to celebrating them.”

The letter (available here) concludes, “If the festival committee chooses to move forward with a crabulous animal-friendly event, PETA would be happy to become a sponsor, host delicious vegan crab cake cookery demonstrations, and provide free samples of vegan seafood for all to enjoy.”

A PETA US investigation of a crustacean abattoir revealed that live lobsters and crabs were impaled, torn apart, and decapitated – even as their legs continued to move. Chefs typically place live lobsters in pots of boiling water while they’re still conscious – a cruel practice that has been banned in Switzerland. Fish may slowly suffocate or be crushed to death when they’re dragged out of the ocean in huge nets, and the throats and stomachs of those who survive are cut open on the decks of fishing boats.

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” – notes that one-third of Britons have already reduced their meat intake, including fish, or stopped consuming animals entirely, and polls show that vegan meals are the most popular takeaway trend in the UK. Each person who goes vegan spares the lives of nearly 200 animals each year and lowers his or her risk of suffering from heart disease, strokes, diabetes, obesity, and cancer.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.

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