I've always been an animal lover - it's something that forms an integral part of who I am. Recently, I've noticed that my local grocery store, HyVee, sells live lobsters to customers who, in all likelihood, will boil these creatures alive. For those of you who do not know, HyVee is a grocery store chain that operates in the Midwest and southern United States. HyVee has hundreds of stores in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The HyVee I am focusing on is my local store in Ashwaubenon Wisconsin. This practice of selling live lobsters to be boiled or chopped up alive leaves me feeling deeply troubled. I am not alone in this sentiment; widespread concern exists among many animal rights advocates and ethologists (animal behaviorists) about the suffering lobsters may experience during this process. 

Lobsters, like all creatures, deserve to be treated with respect and compassion. Scientific consensus increasingly views these creatures as capable of experiencing pain. For instance, a study by the Queen's University Belfast (Dr. Robert Elwood) highlights the potential capacity of crustaceans to suffer. He discovered lobsters possibly have the ability to feel pain, just as mammals do. Among other emotions. They have been discovered to experience life in many of the same ways we do. These lobsters may be sustainably caught, but they are still ripped from their home and endure an immense amount of stress during that. They are often brought to grocery stores with a claw or some legs missing. They are not treated kindly and are treated horribly, things no living creature should have to go through. They are subjected to overcrowding in grocery store tanks; poor water conditions; cold temperatures to slow their metabolism; stress from rough handling and having their claws restrained, their only source of self defense, so they cannot fight back. They often are forced to go an extended period without food

Let us send a clear message to HyVee and similar businesses: it's time commercial practices evolve to reflect our understanding of animal welfare. The routine sale of live lobsters for boiling alive does not align with this knowledge or with our moral responsibility to minimize animal suffering.

I ask you to help put an end to this practice; every signature brings us one step closer. Please sign this petition, demand HyVee stop selling live lobsters, and foster a more compassionate world for all creatures.