Live lobster arcade game removed from Fla. restaurant after complaint

DORAL, Fla., Aug. 6 (UPI) -- A Florida restaurant said it got rid of an arcade-style claw device used to pull live lobsters from a tank, citing an animal rights activist's complaint.

Until late July, diners at Carolina Ale House in Doral could pay $2 to win a live lobster by grabbing it with a mechanical claw, similar to those used to win teddy bears and other prizes. Management removed it, and stopped serving lobsters, after Christina Fernandez, 30, complained about the game, The Miami Herald reported.

"The animals were swimming in filth. It was cruel and it was inhumane. When I was growing up those machines had stuffed animals," Fernandez said.

Fernandez, who grew up catching lobsters in the Florida Keys, took a reasoned explanation to restaurant manager Andy Dunkes, 44.

"She came in and we hit it off," Dunkes said, adding, "the last thing we want to do is offend anybody,"

Dunkes added the loss of the lobster game has thus far not hurt business.

This week, the animal rights organization People for Ethical Treatment of Animals awarded Fernandez a "Lobster Defender" award, just before the commercial lobster fishing season begins, the newspaper noted.