A state judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) last summer over steaming live lobsters at the Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland.
The Bangor Daily News reports that the suit was filed against both the festival and the town, claiming that the steaming of lobsters went against Maine’s animal abuse law. The suit also claimed that the organizations local members had to quote “avoid the festival to avoid the trauma associated with seeing live animals being steamed to death”.
Justice Patrick Larson ruled Monday that the suit didn’t meet the legal requirement for the court to find a public nuisance was being created.
“Because the complaint fails to allege facts sufficient to establish the special injury requirement of a public nuisance claim, the court need not address the parties arguments about whether live lobster steaming constitutes a nuisance,” Larson stated in his ruling.
The justice also ruled that a PETA member has no right to be free from conduct they personally find objectionable.
Maine judges have ruled against PETA before over treatment of lobsters, with a judge in 2013 ruling that the state’s animal cruelty laws are likely not intended to cover invertebrates.
To read the original Bangor Daily News article, click here.
