Crabs aren’t people. Or are they?
In a 30-second video released Monday by the animal rights organization PETA, the nonprofit’s president, Ingrid Newkirk, calls the crustaceans “clever little people” — and urges actual people to think twice about eating them.
“Humans have always mocked those they find a little different. Crabs may look different from us, they may be small, but that’s no reason to harm them,” Newkirk says as the narrator of the commercial, which PETA said will begin airing on Baltimore-area TV stations starting Monday evening.
It’s the latest development in a years-long feud between the nonprofit and Jimmy’s Famous Seafood. Most recently, their sparring escalated with dueling billboards.
“In nature, crabs care attentively for their young, keep their homes clean, and defend neighboring crabs’ burrows against intruders,” according to a news release from PETA that announced the TV spot. “Captured crabs feel agonizing pain when their legs are damaged or torn off by workers quickly ripping them from fishing nets.”
The organization recommended a handful of Baltimore businesses with vegan crab alternatives — including The Land of Kush, Refocused, Dodah’s Kitchen, Liora and Harmony Bakery — to those who might be willing to give up the real deal.