NEW: The heartbreaking story and inspiring rescue of one hermit crab—meant to live for 30 years but relegated to a tiny plastic prison with some gravel—is live over at the Every Animal Project. Read and share Molasses' story today to keep the heat on the cruel hermit crab industry to stop selling these animals as souvenirs!

We’d found Molasses on Craigslist, being offered up for free, and immediately decided to make the 8-hour round trip to bring her home. She’d never make it without swift intervention, we knew. With summer shriveling into fall and the outdoor humidity levels plunging day by day, time wasn’t on this tropical creature’s side. Her modified gills would already be struggling desperately to breathe in the crisp Mid-Atlantic air.

Molasses had been bought earlier that summer by a family visiting a souvenir shop at the beach, but was quickly set aside when boredom crept into their children, whose curious fingers were hungry for their next interactive toy.

For Molasses, though, there was no relief from the boredom in that plastic prison—the isolation, the gloom. There were no branches, no hideaways, no sandy beaches. Nothing for her to do but sit, curled up inside her shell, and rot.

Read on to learn what became of Molasses—and share her story TODAY to help shine a light on the dark hermit crab industry.

P.S. Summer's not over yet! You can support our crucial work for hermit crabs by ordering your hermit crab freedom tank top today!