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WIN: New hermit crab book + tank top!
Plight of the Hermies and the Vegan Mermaid Warrior are excited to offer an exclusive opportunity to get your hands on an autographed copy of the brand new children’s book, Squirmy Hermie’s Heroics by Tamira Thayne and published by Who Chains You Publishing–along with one of our Hermit Crab Freedom tank tops, all for free! This new book tells the riveting adventure of the lovable Squirmy, a captive hermit crab who embarks on a journey to freedom. As I wrote in my testimonial for the book, “Readers will soak up Squirmy’s story like a sponge in water, and when they put it down, they’ll never regard hermit crabs as mere…
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Giant Crab Delivers 50k Signatures to Sunsations
Today, Plight of the Hermies’ giant inflatable crab descended on a Sunsations store in Virginia Beach, accompanied by a 50,000-person-strong petition urging the beach chain to ditch wild hermit crab sales. The two-meter-tall crab, emblazoned with the slogan, “Sunsations: Hermit crabs aren’t souvenirs!” was flagged by protesters holding signs and handing out postcards encouraging passerby to visit HermitCrabFreedom.com to add their name to the petition. Protesters documented broken limbs, filthy conditions, and even a dead hermit crab inside the shop during the demonstration. At the conclusion of the protest, the box of signatures was delivered to the front door of Sunsations’ Virginia Beach headquarters. When alerted to the neglect and cruelty documented today,…
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Letter to the Editor: Destined to Die
Our letter to the editor was published by The SandPaper. July 24, 2019 To the Editor: We’ve all seen the colorful shells, painted with football team logos and cartoon characters. Thousands of kids will head home from their summer vacations at the beach with one in tow, a tiny trinket reminding them of sunny days and sand. But by next summer, nearly all of these beloved hermit crabs will have died. Hermit crabs are complex animals that can live for over 30 years in their natural habitat, the tropical seashore. These social beings thrive in large colonies, often sleep piled up together, and collaborate in teams to find food. Every…
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New Billboard Campaign Targets Sunsations for Hermit Crab Freedom
With beach season in full swing, four billboards are popping up around Hampton Roads, Virginia, this week calling on residents and tourists alike to join a nationwide campaign urging Virginia Beach-based souvenir chain Sunsations to take wild hermit crabs off its shelves. The billboards feature an image of caged, crowded hermit crabs captured inside one local Sunsations store last summer alongside the text, “Wild hermit crabs don’t belong on our boardwalk,” and direct onlookers to HermitCrabFreedom.com, where they can add their name to a petition signed by over 50,000 people asking the souvenir giant to stop selling crabs. The boards, a joint initiative by hermit crab advocacy group Plight of…
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BREAKING: Hermit crabs dead, dying at Sunsations — WATCH AND SHARE!
A new Plight of the Hermies investigative video reveals the horrors of the hermit crab trade inside beach chain Sunsations, where crabs were found with missing limbs in filthy, crowded cages–and one crab had even died. Click to watch and share this powerful video TODAY! Since the launch of our petition, over 50,000 people have urged Sunsations to take these delicate, sensitive animals off its shelves. Now, we’ve documented hermit crabs languishing and dying inside its Virginia Beach stores–yet the chain still touts its “high standards of care for the hermit crabs in [its] care.” Hermit crabs are wild animals who can live for 30 years in their natural habitat, the tropical seashore. But hundreds of…
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PHOTOS: Protesters kick off Sunsations campaign in Virginia Beach!
Today in Virginia Beach, protesters lined the street outside one Sunsations store on behalf of the more than 40,000 people who have signed our petition saying hermit crabs are not souvenirs! Check out and share the photos: http://bit.ly/SunsationsProtest! Nearly 20 people gathered peacefully outside Sunsations to send a strong message to the company that hermit crabs are wild animals who can live for 30 years in the natural habitat–and don’t belong on store shelves. We handed out many leaflets to curious passerby, and one family even decided against buying a hermit crab after learning about the plight of these complex animals. Help spread the word that it’s time for Sunsations to…
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The Virginian-Pilot covers the hermies’ plight!
Just before our kickoff protest for our campaign urging Sunsations to take hermit crabs off its shelves, The Virginian-Pilot has covered the story. Read and share today! The Virginian-Pilot: “Hermit crab freedom” protest planned at the Oceanfront this weekend Beachgoers and tourists at the Oceanfront this weekend may encounter the Plight of the Hermies. That’s the name of a small local group that says it’s fighting for “hermit crab freedom.” Organizers plan to set up shop Saturday from 11 a.m. to noon outside Sunsations, the beach souvenir store, to protest its sale of hermit crabs. “They end up dying in these cages within just a few months,” said Plight of the Hermies…
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Tell Sunsations: Hermit Crab’s Aren’t Souvenirs!
We’ve just launched the largest campaign for captive hermit crabs ever: We’re urging beach retail chain Sunsations–one of the largest dealers of hermit crab on the East Coast–to keep hermit crabs in the wild! Hermit crabs are complex animals who can live for over 30 years in their natural habitat, the tropical seashore. These social beings thrive in large colonies and often sleep piled up together. They enjoy climbing, foraging, and exploring and even work in teams to find food. Every single land hermit crab sold in souvenir shops like Sunsations—hundreds of thousands every year—has been caught from the wild, as these animals do not breed readily in captivity. At the boardwalk, hermit crabs…
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VICTORY: Terrifying Mid-Atlantic Hermit Crab Challenge Canceled!
VICTORY!! For the last four years, Plight of the Hermies volunteers have tabled at the Mid-Atlantic Hermit Crab Challenge–an annual event in which sensitive hermit crabs are subjected to crowds and loud music as they are forced to “race”–with information on why you should never buy one of these delicate wild animals. We’ve educated hundreds on how to care for hermit crabs they’ve already bought, who, without our help, would likely perish in tiny cages within months. We are thrilled to announce that we have just confirmed that this year, this terrifying event has been permanently canceled because of low participation. This is a major step forward for these intelligent little…
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Hermit Crab Industry EXPOSED for the First Time!
Just in time for summer, when beach boardwalks erupt with colorful painted shells housing delicate hermit crabs, PETA has released a new eyewitness video, revealing for the first time the horrors endured by these tiny animals between being plucked from the wild and sold to customers in tiny cages. PETA found that hermit crabs were dumped into barren pens by the thousands and denied hiding spaces and the opportunity to dig. Workers cracked open crabs’ shells with a manual lever press to force them to inhabit painted shells. HUNDREDS of dead crabs were found every day at this supplier. Take a look: Please, NEVER buy a hermit crab–only adopt a…
