Nine lobsters ‘liberated’ from
Chinese restaurant
11.05.15
NINE lobsters have been
set free after being "liberated" from a Dublin
restaurant following a daring weekend operation by
animal rights activists.
Members of the National Animal Rights Association
(NARA) swooped on 'Ka Shing' Chinese restaurant as
the busy Friday evening rush got underway about
7.30pm.
A number of the activists fished the nine lobsters
out of the tank, which is situated at the entrance
to the Wicklow Street premises before putting them
into bags and quickly exiting the eatery.
The lobsters were taken to Clontarf where they were
released into the sea after rubber bands were
removed from their claws.
The lightening-flash
restaurant raid, which was over in seconds, was
captured on video by NARA.
The group later posted footage on YouTube where it
has been getting many messages of support and is
quickly going viral.
NARA spokeswoman Laura Broxson said: "Would you boil
a cat or dog alive? No. So why do people think it's
ok to do this to a lobster? They feel pain. They
feel fear. They suffer. Yet, over 20 million
lobsters are killed in this way every year. How is
it still legal?"
Ms Broxson said the group had handed in leaflets
outlining their concerns to the restaurant's
management some weeks ago, but had received no
response.
A spokesman for Ka Shing, one of Dublin’s longest
established Chinese restaurants, confirmed that the
incident took place as the premises became busy with
diners on Friday evening.
He said that some of the activists pretended to look
for a table to distract staff from their real
motive.
He said when it was discovered the lobsters were
gone, he and another staff member gave chase down
the street to try and retrieve them.
"It was quite a wet night but they were wearing
runners and we were wearing proper shoes so we
couldn't catch them,” he said.
“When I saw what happened I just couldn't let them
do a thing like that.
The restaurant spokesman said the incident had been
reported to gardaí who have been looking at the
premises’ CCTV footage.
