PETA has filed a lawsuit against the Maine Lobster Festival, arguing the steaming of lobsters is “egregiously cruel."

The practice of boiling roughly 16,000 lobsters alive amounts to torment, torture and cruelty, alleges the lawsuit filed by PETA.

The animal rights organization called the traditional way of cooking lobster animal cruelty because lobsters can feel pain, according to some scientific research. The post PETA sues Maine Lobster Festival over steaming of 20,