At 7:30 pm on Friday, May 8th of this year, activists with the National Animal Rights Association (NARA), Direct Action For Animals, and Alliance For Animal Rights paid a visit to the Ka Shing Chinese restaurant and decided to liberate (i.e. steal) nine lobsters out of a tank at the restaurant’s entrance.

According to the Irish Examiner, the thieves fished the lobsters out of the tank, put them into bags and then quickly exited only to later release them into the sea. The activists filmed the incident and it is below for you to see for yourself. The restaurant’s owner should not have had the tank near the entrance but he should also not have to structure his business on the possibility that doing so would result in lobsters being stolen. While it is my hope that these thieves are caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, this incident also reminded me of something humorist and author Dave Barry said one time:

It seems that a Rockville, Maryland, restaurant call The House of Chinese Gourmet installed a lobster tank, which greatly upset some customers who belong to a group called People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, whose members apparently have (1) a deep respect for all living things and (2) a tremendous amount of spare time. They bought seven lobsters from the restaurant for $40, removed them from the tank (a PETA member “talked softly and rubbed the lobsters to reassure them”), and then paid $200 to fly the lobsters to Portland, Maine, where they (the lobsters) were released in the ocean, where we are sure they will live happy, productive lives until they are recaptured by lobstermen.