I'm wondering if the Lobsters are trying to piggyback on today's SC decision allowing capital murderers to file civil rights lawsuits just before their execution?

Shut up and walk your lobster

Tuesday, June 13, 2006
John Kelso column:

No wonder people think this town is goofy. The Whole Foods Market chain headquartered here in Austin is thinking about stopping the sale of live lobsters because it could be cruel to the lobsters.

"We're reviewing the entire process literally from boat to plate to see if we can make some significant improvement in that whole supply process," Whole Foods spokeswoman Kate Lowery said.

One way Whole Foods could make some significant improvement would be to release all the lobsters into Town Lake. That way I could collect them and eat them.

Still, on Thursday the Whole Foods leadership will discuss whether to discontinue marketing live lobsters because the lobsters may not be getting humane treatment. At issue here is what people do with the lobsters when they take them home � that is, boil them and dip them in drawn butter. "It's ultimately how they're handled by the consumer after they go home that's a concern," Lowery said.

What are we supposed to do? Give them names like Larry the Lobster and take them for a walk?

Whole Foods halts sale of live lobsters

Grocer says move was prompted by humane treatment concerns

AMERICAN STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Whole Foods Market Inc. will stop selling live lobsters, effective Friday, out of concern for the humane treatment of the animals.

The company had been reviewing its practices since November, after several customers raised concerns about the often crowded tanks where lobsters are displayed for sale, saying the conditions were cruel.

Whole Foods had been testing an alternative in an Atlanta store, where the crustaceans were given more room in a dimly lit tank with the cooler water they prefer.

But Thursday, Whole Food executives decided even the better holding tanks weren't sufficient. The chain also will no longer sell live soft-shell crabs.

"At this time, we believe it is too difficult to maintain consistent conditions throughout the entire supply chain to ensure the health and well-being of lobsters outside their natural environment for such a long period of time. Many lobsters are held in storage facilities for for several months," said Margaret Wittenberg, vice president of quality standards for Whole Foods.

Animal rights groups applauded the move, saying live shellfish are routinely starved and kept in cruel conditions in grocery stores.

Whole Foods, which seeks to assure the humane treatment of animals headed for the dinner table, created the Animal Compassion Foundation to research and promote better treatment of animals used for food.

[How long before Justice Stevens quotes this article to justify why we shouldn't be executing people?]

For those of you too young to remember "Save Larry...Boil Larry"

Larry the Lobster- On an April 10, 1982 installment of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, the Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time Players threatened to boil a real lobster named "Larry the Lobster" live on-the-air. As Eddie Murphy informed the audience: [speaks fast] "You want to save Larry the Lobster dial 1-900-720-1808. [speaks slowly]. If you want to kill him dial 1-900-720-1809. Now unless you call in to save him, we're going to boil Larry's little butt right here on national television. Now you call in. The phone company is going to charge you fifty cents, but isn't it worth fifth cents to save Larry's life? Or look at it this way: Isn't it worth half a buck to see us boil Larry on TV?" Nearly 500,000 viewers dialed into the program. The final tally? KILL LARRY: 227, 452; SAVE LARRY: 239,096. TRIVIA NOTE: On the March 2002 installment of the ROSIE O'DONNELL show Rosie had a firefighter from Rhode Island preparing some firehouse recipes during a cooking segment. One of the ingredients was a lobster. Rosie pointed to three live lobsters with their claws tied and told the audience she didn't want to anger PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) by dropping them into the boiling pot live on the air. She then jokingly offered the lobsters a drink from an opened can of Budweiser beer and inferred she'd release them into the Long Island Sound after the show. Ironically, there were already three dead lobsters brewing in another pot.

TRIVIA NOTE: In 2005, a web site called "SaveToby.com posted a message threatening to kill a bunny rabbit named Toby and eat him for dinner if people did not send donations. Here is a snippet of the sites message:

"Toby is the cutest little bunny on the planet. Unfortunately, he will DIE on June 30th, 2005 if you don't help....I don�t want to eat Toby, he is my friend, and he has always been the most loving, adorable pet. However, God as my witness, I will devour this little guy unless I receive 50,000$ USD into my account from donations or purchase of merchandise. You can help this poor, helpless bunny�s cause by making donations through my verified PayPal account by clicking on any of the Donate buttons on this site, or by purchasing merchandise at the Savetoby.com online store."

The hoaxster at this site uses the same tactic as seen on other sites like www.savefluffy.com, and the Save Bernd! plea at http://www.krohm.net/bernd.htm. However, be forewarned. Besides generating sympathy for the plight of these alleged animal victims, the webmasters are racking up lots of money (from pop-up ad revenues) each time you access their site.