The Maine Department of Transportation has denied a request from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to build a 5-foot tombstone memorial where lobsters may have died after a crash on Route 1 in Brunswick last week.
Brunswick police say a Cozy Harbor Seafood truck, carrying nearly 70 crates of lobster, rolled over and crushed several of them.
It is because of the lobsters that were pinned under the truck that PETA wrote a letter to the Maine DOT on Wednesday asking for permission to put up a memorial.
“Countless sensitive crustaceans experienced an agonizing death when this truck rolled over and their bodies came crashing down onto the highway,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said. “PETA hopes to pay tribute to these individuals who didn’t want to die with a memorial urging people to help prevent future suffering by keeping lobsters and all other animals off their plates.”
The Maine DOT says they denied the request Thursday because Route 1 in Brunswick is a “controlled-access highway,” which means they prohibit signs and in this case a tombstone because of safety concerns.
They say controlled-access areas may have high volumes of traffic as well as a high-speed limit that could create a potential hazard to drivers should “development and signs be allowed in these sections.”
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