A Maryland seafood restaurant has decided to teach People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals the old maxim: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
PETA’s recent “go vegan” billboards, which featured a blue crab telling viewers “I’m ME, Not MEAT. See the individual. Go vegan” didn’t sit well with Jimmy’s Famous Seafood in Baltimore.
Owner John Minadakis and local residents responded with a billboard of his own in order to defend “industries from coast to coast.”
“SteaMEd crabs. Here to stay. Get famous” his billboard reads.
“As small business owners, we felt compelled to defend our history and livelihood from this unprovoked attack,” he told Fox News for an interview published Tuesday. “My father built this landmark with his bare hands. Our family was raised in this business, and literally grew up on the second floor of the building.”
“Maryland’s backbone is the crab industry, and we were not going to sit idly on the sidelines while they attempted to cripple the local economy,” he continued. “We rolled up our sleeves, got to work, saved up our money, and erected the billboard. We will not be bullied into submission by PETA.”
PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman told the network that “compassionate” citizens should refuse to eat the iconic Maryland dish.
“No compassionate person would boil an animal alive,” she said in a statement. “Just like humans, crabs feel pain and experience fear, have unique personalities, and value their own lives, but a PETA investigation has shown that they endure agonizing deaths in order to be used for dinner — so if PETA’s billboard encouraged even one Baltimorean to view these complex crustaceans as individuals and go vegan, then it worked like a charm in our mind.”
Our Yard. #SteamThemALL pic.twitter.com/FBj1hTssCe
— Jimmy’s Famous Seafood (@JimmysSeafood) September 3, 2018
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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