People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has filed a lawsuit against a lobster festival in Maine, calling the steaming of lobsters “egregiously cruel.”

PETA filed the lawsuit on July 24 against the Maine Lobster Festival and the City of Rockland, asking the court to stop the steaming of lobsters. The group said the judge should declare the event a “public nuisance.”

“Today, PETA filed a lawsuit against the Maine Lobster Festival and the City of Rockland in Knox County Superior Court over the city-endorsed event’s egregiously cruel method of steaming thousands of lobsters alive in what PETA contends is a violation of Maine law prohibiting the torture and torment of animals,” the group wrote.

PETA filed the lawsuit with the Knox County Superior Court.

It asked the court

See Full Page