Seeking a Moral in the Lobster Tale

* Re “Lobsters Finally Win a Round in Law Vs. Claw,” July 23:

I cannot believe what I just read. This is without a doubt one of the absolute most stupid things I have ever heard of in my life.

It is great to know that the Irvine Police Department and Officer Dennis Ruvolo are so concerned with the welfare of a lobster.

How does Ruvolo think lobsters are removed from the tank at all? The fact that restaurant patrons are removing them from the tank makes it no more or less cruel than if a chef or someone at a packing plant was doing it.

I also find it highly questionable that no one else ever complained about the game, and when a police officer, Ruvolo, sees it and does not like it, the restaurant Sumo Sushi gets threatened with animal cruelty citations.

Are we living in a police state? Why does Officer Ruvolo’s opinion mean more than mine or anyone else’s? The Irvine Police Department would be wise to rethink making these kinds of threats in the future.

DAVID EHRLICH

Coto de Caza

* What amused me was the question posed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals spokesman Bruce Friedman: “Do you treat lobsters any differently from dogs or cats?”

Of course lobsters are treated differently than cats and dogs.

While cats and dogs are not picked up by a plastic claw and dropped down a chute by their owners-to-be, they are not packed by the hundreds in ice and flown by airplane from Maine to their various destinations to be eaten either.

For one to insist that a creature feels pain by being picked up by a plastic claw and dropped down a chute is ridiculous if one doesn’t even mention the agony of being boiled alive.

JEFFREY DEUTSCH

Huntington Beach

* This is just another case of some overzealous animal rights wacko sticking his nose into something that should have been none of his business.

If he didn’t like the way the lobsters were captured prior to being boiled, he should have just left the restaurant. But no, he has to tie up taxpayer dollars just to force his idiotic viewpoints on others.

What’s worse, where other than in Irvine will you have an animal rights division in a police department? Seems to me they could occupy their time on more important matters.

Just when you think you’ve heard it all, something like this pops up. Amazing!

STEVE LEE

Pomona