[M]y reason behind choosing a lobster [tattoo] was that they are treated with such extreme cruelty but often overlooked. My Dad used to work in a frozen food depot and he told me about the hundreds of lobsters with bands around their claws, kept barely alive in the freezer until they were delivered to restaurants to be boiled. I’m haunted by those images and although I’m vegan now, I am glad I’ve never eaten lobster in my life.
I deliberately got the tattoo so that people would ask me ‘Why a lobster?’ and I tell them about the remarkable lives of lobsters and their capacity to feel pain, care for each other, and the torture they endure. Invariably people shed a few tears and it really opens their eyes. I had the tattoo done [by Bogota, Colombia-based Camilo Joya] at Lightworkers in Berlin, as they donate a percentage of their profits to Sea Shepherd.