OCEAN CITY – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is ratcheting up the pressure against Ocean City’s annual Miss Crustacean Beauty Pageant and hermit crab races.
Two weeks group founder Ingrid Newkirk sent a letter to Mayor Jay Gillian, trying to get him to end the event and even offered to provide robotic crabs to race. (See story online at ocnjsentinel.com.)
The mayor declined to comment. The pageant and races are going on as planned.
On Wednesday, Aug. 19, PETA is coming to the event to protest.
According to the group, it will bring a giant “hermit crab trapped in a tank” to the boardwalk near the planned beauty contest and races.
PETA supporters will ask the city to maintain the tradition, but with the robotic crabs.
“Hermit crabs are thinking, feeling individuals who belong on the seashore, not in plastic tanks, painted shells, or race lanes on the boardwalk,” PETA Senior Vice President Colleen O’Brien said in the press release. “Ocean City can keep the fun and ditch the cruelty by letting robotic crabs take the track instead.”
Registration for the events is 5:30 p.m. with the pageant to take place at 6 p.m. followed by the races at the beach at Sixth and Boardwalk.
According to PETA, hermit crabs are social animals that live in large colonies and can survive for decades in nature, but those sold in seaside tourist destinations are often treated as disposable novelties.
“Many die shortly after purchase because their needs for proper humidity, space, and companionship cannot be met in the small plastic containers in which they are commonly kept,” PETA wrote. “Because hermit crabs do not readily breed in captivity, they are routinely taken from coastal habitats and sold in boardwalk shops and pet stores, which frequently force them into painted shells despite their toxicity to crabs.”
PETA’s model includes the phrase “animals are not ours to use for entertainment.”
PETA Associate Director Colin Henstock told the Sentinel for its earlier story that every purchase “just fuels this trade that really has a staggering toll in terms of suffering” on the crabs. “We just urge Ocean City residents and visitors to the town to leave the hermit crabs in nature and support attractions that celebrate animals without exploiting them.”
As Newkirk wrote to Gillian, “Times change, and traditions evolve. Just as New England no longer promotes whaling but sells everything that celebrates whales, Ocean City has a similar opportunity to transition toward compassion. Rather than holding events that encourage the capture and use of hermit crabs as entertainment, the city could preserve all the fun with remote-controlled crab races and other animal-friendly activities that leave real crabs in peace.”
Learn more at PETA.org.
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
