An animal rights advocate wants to place a roadside memorial in Maine to remember thousands of lobsters killed in a highway wreck.
A member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed an application for the memorial earlier on Wednesday to build a large grave to mark the site of a truck crash that resulted in thousands of lobsters spilling out onto a highway.
PETA hopes to memorialize the ‘countless sensitive crustaceans’ who were killed during the August 22 crash in Brunswick, the animal rights group said.
Consider the lobster: PETA have been trying to butter up officials with the Maine Department of Transportation to have a 5ft sign erected by the side of the road at the site of the crash
The grave would ‘remind everyone that the best way to prevent such tragedies is to go vegan,’ the animal rights group said.
7,000 pounds of live lobsters were destroyed and it’s believed at least 4,500 lobsters died. It’s believed the truck’s driver lost control because of rain.
Some of the lobsters died from being crushed, police say. Detective William Moir told The Bangor Daily News that the scene of lobster carnage ‘was something I’ve never seen before. Some lobsters were loose on the ground from being spilled over so we went to work to save the ones we could.’
‘Countless sensitive crustaceans experienced an agonizing death when this truck rolled over and their bodies came crashing down onto the highway,’ PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said.
‘PETA hopes to pay tribute to these individuals who didn’t want to die with a memorial urging people to help prevent future suffering by keeping lobsters and all other animals off their plates.’
Sad tail: 7,000 pounds of live lobsters were destroyed and it’s believed at least 4,500 lobsters were crushed in the crash earlier this month in Maine
Some Mainers say lobsters belong on their dinner table and they don’t agree with ereceting a memorial.
A mockup of the five-foot gravestone shows a lobster with the words, ‘In Memory of the Lobsters Who Suffered and Died at This Spot.’
Maine’s Department of Transportation has reviewed the group’s request but is said to be denying the application.
MaineDOT told the Boston Globe that the request was rebuffed because signs of all kinds are not allowed on that particular portion of the highway.
‘They, or any other group, couldn’t do it on that section,’ spokesman Ted Talbot said/ ‘That section is a Controlled-Access section, meaning that there’s a lot of car and truck traffic and volume at high rates of speed.’
Crushed-acean: PETA’s request for a roadside tombstone in remembrance of the lobsters killed when a truck crashed in Brunswick, Maine has been denied. Above, the wreckage of the crash
He said even if the group proposed downgrading the tombstone to something like a political sign, it would still be denied.
However, the group could put up a temporary sign or memorial for 12 weeks so long as it is no larger than 5ft.
‘They could go anywhere else that is not a Controlled-Access section,’ Talbot said of the request from PETA. ‘As long as they stay within the temporary sign law, sure.’
‘I’m not cruel to animals but that goes way too far, and a monument on the highway? We don’t even put monuments up for people who die,’ said Janie Roy to the Bangor Daily News. ‘What’s the difference between them falling on the road and dying or being thrown in [boiling] hot water? We eat them every single day. Either way they’re dead lobsters.’
Last week PETA sparked stuck up a billboard in Maryland encouraging people to ‘go vegan’ and stop eating crabs as ‘part of a nationwide campaign to encourage diners to leave crabs and other sea animals off dinner plates and in their aquatic homes.’