People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is trying to put a stop to the Maine Lobster Festival in a new lawsuit.
The organization announced the lawsuit against the festival and the City of Rockland on its website last week. The group complained about the “city-endorsed event’s egregiously cruel method of steaming thousands of lobsters alive in what PETA contends is a violation of Maine’s law prohibiting the torture and torment of animals.”
The complaint accuses the festival of steaming about 16,000 live lobsters in public without stunning them first. The organization claims this practice constitutes unlawful torture and non-instantaneous killing of sentient animals in violation of Maine law. It argues that “being steamed alive is the antithesis of instantaneous death” and that lobsters suffer for “at least 2.5 minutes” or longer. The animals remain “sensible to pain and distress” during this time period, the lawsuit claims.
PETA further claims that the public steaming excludes their members and others concerned about “animal rights” from accessing Harbor Park, the area where the festival is held.
PETA sues Maine Lobster Festival for steaming 16,000 lobstershttps://t.co/YfbQ0jsHeK
— Not the Bee (@Not_the_Bee) July 30, 2025
PETA claims that this public spectacle excludes their members from accessing Harbor Park and violates their rights under the public trust doctrine. The group contends that the event “constitutes a public nuisance” by “unreasonably interfering with rights common to the general public” and excluding those who have moral disagreements with the practice.
“These individuals cannot access public trust resources without encountering and accepting intolerable conditions: the illegal public torture and killing of thousands of individual sentient lobsters via live steaming,” the complaint reads.
PETA members are “uniquely burdened by the City’s promotion of conduct that violates criminal law and offends their deeply held scientific, ethical, and moral convictions” because “the smells, sights and sounds of animal torture render the area unusable,” according to the lawsuit.
PETA insists its members, as taxpayers, are being forced to subsidize an event they disagree with. “The City’s participation in this unlawful conduct… injures PETA members as taxpayers and civic participants and implicates these members’ rights under due process and equal protection guarantees and public trust protections,” the lawsuit reads.
Lastly, the plaintiffs are demanding that the court recognize that the “public steaming of live lobsters at the Maine Lobster Festival violates Maine’s animal cruelty laws” and issue a permanent injunction prohibiting the festival from engaging in this practice “unless and until humane, instantaneous methods are implemented.”
Doni Anthony with the United States Human Defense League slammed the lawsuit. “What people should be asking is why PETA is allowed to file a frivolous lawsuit with no legal standing,” she told Townhall. “This has nothing to do with lobsters—it’s about controlling people. They use the courts to bully communities, rewrite culture, and they should lose their nonprofit status for it.”
Of course, it’s also worth noting that PETA is no stranger when it comes to killing animals. The organization has a 75 to 95 percent kill rate among the dogs and cats in its Norfolk, Virginia, facility. In fact, the organization has killed tens of thousands of animals over recent decades.
It’s one thing to voice one’s opinion on how animals should be treated. It’s quite another to weaponize the government against people simply for cooking lobsters.
Editor’s Note: The Democrat Party has never been less popular as voters reject its globalist agenda.
Help us continue exposing Democrats' plans to lead America down a dangerous path. Join Townhall's VIP program and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member