Seafood Market Pleads Guilty to Lobster Cruelty

One of Sydney’s largest sea life markets, Nicholas Seafood, has pled guilty to animal cruelty charges and agreed to pay a $1,500 fine. The charges against the seafood market were brought by the New South Wales branch of Australian animal-rights organization the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). Inspector Tyson Hohlein visited the facility after a video surfaced of an employee hacking off the tail of a live lobster before putting the animal’s body through a band saw. “I attended the business and spoke to the manager,” Hohlein said. “We were told that it was an isolated incident and the staff member who did it was not aware of correct procedures to euthanize.” Lobsters became protected under the country’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act enacted in 1997 after a scientific study proved that the crustaceans can feel pain. Several incidents of Canadian residents rescuing lobsters from slaughter made headlines last year, bringing attention to the cruelty these crustaceans endure.