Shocking video exposes illegal method of killing lobsters at major Maine seafood plant and an employee JUMPING on a bin of the crustaceans

Peta claims seafood factory breaks slaughter laws

Animal rights group to file criminal complaint against Linda Bean's Maine Lobster

Workers at a Maine seafood plant have been accused of killing lobsters and crabs in a 'primitive and painful' manner, according to an animal rights group that filmed procedures at the plant.



Footage allegedly taken at Linda Bean's Maine Lobster in Rockland showed workers pulling the bodies of lobsters apart while they were still alive and conscious, and rubbing away the organs of alive crabs.



Animal rights group Peta filmed during a five-month investigation into slaughter methods at the seafood processing plant.



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Decapitated: A lobster waves its legs after having its head pulled off at the plant

Dismembered: A plant worker pulls the lobster's head off its body while it is still alive

'Cruel': Peta claims the method, which doesn't kill the lobsters for several hours, is inhumane

' These animals are dying agonizing deaths at this facility,' Dan Paden, evidence analysis manager at Peta, told CBS .

The group said Linda Bean's should be using humane technology to stun or kill the crustaceans immediately, instead of subjecting them to cruel and prolonged deaths.



Allegations: Linda Bean's lobster plant is accused of using cruel methods

Footage of the lobster processing showed the animals' bodies being pulled apart, with workers acknowledging that they remained alive for a couple of hours afterwards.



A factory worker was also filmed jumping on a container filled with live lobsters.



With the crabs, after their shells were removed they were held, still alive, against bristles that rub away their exposed organs.



One of the workers said the crabs stay alive until they are dropped into boiling water later on in the process.



Peta said it edited out features that could identify the plant because it was trying to work with the owners to find a more humane way to kill the crustaceans.



Mr Paden told the Portland Press Herald the animal rights group was confident that the footage was authentic and accurate.

An attorney for Linda Bean's said however, he could not comment because it was not clear where the footage was taken.



Peta plans to file a criminal complaint against the plant today with police and the district attorney.



Maine law bans intentionally killing animals with a method that doesn't kill them outright. Lobsters and crabs are not exempt from the law.



Shocking: Peta says it filmed a plant worker jumping up and down on a container filled with lobsters



Peta plans to file a criminal complaint against the plant today with police and the district attorney.

In some states lobsters and crabs are not covered by the laws because of widely held beliefs that their simple nervous systems make them immune to pain.



Alive: Live crabs are held against a rotating brush which removes their organs

End of the line: The crabs are still alive when they are dropped into a vat of boiling water

However, recent research by Queen's University Belfast showed that crabs would avoid using a shelter where they had previously received an electric shock.



Robert Elwood, who carried out the research, said the crab behavior in the Peta footage was 'consistent with that of animal feeling pain'.

Dr Bjorn Roth, from the Norwegian Institute of Food, Fishery and Aquaculture, also viewed the video of the Maine plant's killing method.

'This is carving the animal alive and would no doubt cause unnecessary pain,' he said.

Peta said the plant should use a device called Crustastun, which stuns the animals' nervous system and kills them almost instantaneously.



Debate: Scientists disagree as to whether lobsters can feel pain but recent research appears to prove they do

' There's no excuse for the blatant and, we would argue illegal, cruelty going on at this slaughterhouse when there are alternate slaughter methods that rapidly stun and kill these animals,' Mr Paden said.

The Linda Bean plant is a big company in Maine's $300 million lobster business. In a report earlier this year, the plant's five stations were expected to buy 7 million lb of seafood this year.