PETA has proposed Portland replace its Maine Lobsterman statue.
PETA wants Portland to remove the Maine Lobsterman statue and replace it with a statue of a giant lobster crushing a trap. Credit: Courtesy of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals / CBS 13

PETA wants Portland to remove the Maine Lobsterman statue and replace it with a statue of a giant lobster crushing a trap.

The 45th anniversary of the dedication of Portland’s Maine Lobsterman statue is approaching, and PETA said it wants Portland to “move with the times, acknowledge today’s changed understanding of the nature and sensitivity of lobsters.”

The group sent a letter on Friday to Portland Mayor Kate Snyder offering its rendering of the proposed replacement statue and urged her to make the switch.

“Lobsters feel pain and fear, and since they can’t go into shock to escape pain, they suffer greatly when they’re dragged out of their watery homes to be boiled or broiled alive,” PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said. “PETA urges the mayor to greenlight a statue that would shellebrate these remarkable sea beings for who they are, not for how humans exploit them.”

City officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.