The state of Maine rejected a proposal from left-wing animal activist organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) on Thursday to build a tombstone to memorialize thousands of dead lobsters.
PETA said they requested the memorial to be placed on Route 1 for the “countless sensitive crustaceans” killed on August 22 when a truck crash caused the creatures to spill out onto a Brunswick, Maine, highway.
The animal activist group created a mockup of the gravestone depicting a lobster next to the words, “In Memory of the Lobsters Who Suffered and Died at This Spot” and sent it to Maine’s Department of Transportation Wednesday for approval.
The group said the five-foot-tall granite tombstone would “remind everyone that the best way to prevent such tragedies is to go vegan.”
But the Maine Department of Transportation quashed PETA’s plans within 24 hours of receiving their request. Maine DOT chief counsel Jim Billings wrote a letter to the left-wing animal activist group Thursday saying no signs would be allowed on Route 1 for safety reasons, the Portland Press-Herald reported.
Police estimate the crash destroyed 7,000 pounds of live lobsters, leading to the deaths of 4,500 lobsters.
This is the third time the animal activist group waged war on crustaceans in the past month. Last week, PETA installed a billboard in Maryland urging people not to eat crabs, and earlier in the month, the organization installed a billboard trying to convince Maine residents not to eat lobster.