PETA Wants To Replace Jersey Shore’s Hermit Crab Races With Robots

Animal rights activists are downright crabby that a Jersey Shore tradition of racing crustaceans will continue this month, but they have a suggested solution — robots.Saying that hermit crabs are “individuals with their own interests,” People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is urging the town of Ocean City, New Jersey, to modify its Miss Crustacean Pageant and Hermit Crab Races scheduled for August 19.“Times change, and traditions evolve,” PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk said in a letter to Ocean City’s mayor. “Just as New England no longer promotes whaling but sells everything that celebrates whales, Ocean City has a similar opportunity to transition toward compassion.”Ms. Newkirk prognosticates that a pageant focusing on robots rather than Remoulade could include “a crab-friendly pageant that recognizes participants for protecting coastal wildlife and features activities such as bobbing for crab apples and crab-walk relay races.”PETA offers to provide artificial crustaceans to run the races, but Ms. Newkirk did not detail in her letter what kind of automaton would effectively mimic the hermit crabs. “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,” Ms. Newkirk wrote.The crab controversy partly stems from PETA’s longstanding objection to people keeping hermit crabs as pets. PETA says that hermit crabs can live up to 40 years and thrive in colonies, socializing alongside their own species. Hermit crabs avoid human beings and can feel pain or die if they are forced out of their shells. They require proper humidity and space, PETA says.“Hermit crabs are not toys, trinkets, props, or pets,” Ms. Newkirk wrote in the letter to Mayor Jay Gillian. “If the purpose of the pageant is truly to promote responsible ‘pet ownership,’ then the best way to support that goal would be to stop normalizing the purchase and confinement of hermit crabs altogether.”For years, PETA has warned that beachgoers taking single hermit crabs home from vacation inadvertently kill them by denying the crabs proper socialization and space. Many of the crabs die in less than a year, PETA reported in 2014.In 2023, PETA called crabs “feeling individuals, not food” in a dustup over a seafood billboard in Baltimore featuring a different type of decapod.“When it comes to feeling pain and fear, a crab is no different from a cat, a dog, or a human being,” Ms. Newkirk said at the time. “PETA is calling on diners to leave crabs in peace and off their plates and to support local restaurants that offer tasty vegan crab cuisine.”PETA pointed out there were “so many tasty vegan seafood options available online, in grocery stores, and in restaurants” for diners to eat instead.The Ocean City races will take place immediately after the Miss Crustacean pageant on the Sixth Street beach off the boardwalk.Previous winners of the pageant have been named Crabopatra, Crabunzel, Copacrabana, Crab Salad and Taxi Crab, according to OCNJ Daily news website.Winners are awarded the Cucumber Rind Cup, complete with enough food to ostensibly keep a crab happy for one year.

PETA Wants To Replace Jersey Shore’s Hermit Crab Races With Robots

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