PETA Protests Long-Time Ocean City Hermit Crab Event (PHOTOS)
In this corner, there's a hermit crab. In that corner, there's another hermit crab. In that corner, there's a woman covered in red paint from head to toe, dressed up kind of like a crab.
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Ocean City New Jersey Fun & Games Gets a Protest From PETA
PETA (The People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals) sent a letter to the mayor of Ocean City, asking that a 50+ years tradition be changed.
We don't know if the letter was ever received - or, maybe it was and it was ignored. Maybe it was something in the middle.
Anyway, Wednesday afternoon in Ocean City, the annual Miss Crustacean Pageant and Hermit Crab Races went on as scheduled. As happens every year, people showed up with their hermit crabs, and fun was had.
PETA had asked for the real crabs to be replaced with some sort of robot crabs - robot crabs that PETA promised to provide. That didn't happen.
What did happen was the tradition moved forward, and PETA moved forward with their planned protest.
Breaking Down the Protest
The protest consisted of a young lady covered in red paint, sporting a shell, and crab or lobster like claws playing the part of a disgruntled hermit crab.
At times she was in a clear box-like display (PETA called it a giant hermit crab tank). The rest of the time she was walking off waving signs.
Meanwhile at least three others held up signs, protesting the event.
It's not known how aggressive they were with the protest, but, for the record, we haven't seen any reports from the local police department.
PETA's pitch was centered around their beliefs that hermit crabs are animals, not toys or prizes.
Without much effort, I was able to find out the identity of the "red crab." She's from South Jersey and is a personal trainer and Yoga instructor, according to her Facebook page.
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Gallery Credit: Chris Coleman
