The Boca Raton News reports that on August 15 activist with the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida showed up at the Town Center Mall to protest against a kiosk there selling hermit crabs.
Animal Rights Foundation of Florida outreach director Fred Ellis told the Boca Raton News that,
It [selling hermit crabs] sends the message to kids that animals are here for us to use and abuse on a whim and they’re not. They belong in the wild, not locked in a plastic box.
ARFF communications assistant Loretta Murray added that,
They[hermit crabs] don’t reproduce in captivity so every crab in Crab Buddies kiosk was ripped away from his or her home and family.
Hermit crabs are apparently a recent fad in the area, and sell at kiosks for $20-$50 apiece.
Source:
Protestors get crabby at Town Center Mall. Kelli Kennedy, Boca Raton News, August 16, 2003.