Austin-based Whole Foods Market wears its ecological values like an honor badge, which one can argue is a smart business decision.
Here the latest from Austin American-Statesman:
Effective immediately, Whole Foods Market Inc. will no longer sell live lobsters in its stores out of concern for the humane treatment of the animals.
Whole Foods also pulled live soft-shell crabs from all of its stores last month because of concerns about their treatment. The chain is also reviewing the treatment of clams and oysters.
Animal rights groups are celebrating the move, saying live shellfish are routinely starved and kept in cruel conditions.
“PETA applauds Whole Foods for joining Safeway in making the kind decision to spare lobsters — complex animals who feel pain and can live to be 100 years old — from living in filthy, cramped tanks,” said Matt Prescott, manager of factory farming campaigns for the group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
