Overview

• PETA filed suit on July 24 in Knox County Superior Court seeking a permanent injunction against steaming live lobsters on public land at the Rockland festival.
• The complaint alleges that boiling roughly 16,000 lobsters alive each year violates a Maine statute mandating instantaneous death for sentient animals.
• PETA’s filing also calls the event a public nuisance for occupying Harbor Park and depriving visitors of peaceful use of the community space.
• Festival organizers argue their cooking methods follow widely accepted culinary practices and say Maine law does not recognize lobsters as sentient or protected under animal-welfare statutes.
• No judicial decision has been issued and the case remains pending as the lobster festival continues through August 3.