At supermarkets across Canada, lobsters are crammed into tiny barren tanks. This is cruel to lobster as they are complex animals who feel pain and can experience distress from being in crowded environments. They are solitary animals that prefer to spend much of their time in the dark. They move around the ocean and can travel up to 100 meters in a year. Lobsters in the wild can also live past 100 years of age!

Researcher Michael Kuba says that lobsters are “quite amazingly smart animals”, and Neurobiologist Tom Abrams says that lobsters have “a full array of senses”.

At grocery stores, the lobster tanks are overcrowded, the stores are very bright, the lobsters can't move around, and they are forced to live like that day after day. Studies confirm that lobsters kept in tanks suffer from stress associated with confinement, low oxygen levels, overcrowding, and starvation.

Lobsters lead complex social lives. They recognize other lobsters as individuals, and they know where they live. Lobsters and fish are recognized by experts as being capable of experiencing great suffering and distress. Scientists in the European Union classify lobsters as “category I” - that is, animals who experience pain. Also in this category are dogs, cats, chickens, pigs, and humans. 

The Criminal Code of Canada contains language that criminalizes the causing of unnecessary pain, suffering, or injury to animals. Yet, this is what is occurring at Canadian grocery stores.

The Aquatic Animal Alliance recommends that sea life should have access to appropriate environments that enable their wellbeing, in conditions that promote good psychological health, and with sufficient space and materials required to let them express their natural behaviours.

After hearing from concerned customers, some grocery chains have discontinued the sale of live lobsters! We can send a message to all other grocery stores that this cruelty will not be tolerated.