Lobsters Finally Win a Round in Law Vs. Claw

Two bucks used to buy a lot of laughs at Sumo Sushi in Irvine. With the theme from the movie “Jaws” blasting in the background, customers could take turns trying to snag live lobsters from a water tank, using a plastic claw.

Winners--about one in two players--could eat the lobsters they caught.

“It was so amusing,” sighed bar manager Kenny Hoang. “We lost more than we earned with it, but it created a really jolly atmosphere.”

Not everyone was amused. The owners received a letter Thursday from Irvine police, threatening citations for animal cruelty--which carries a fine and a six-month jail term--if they didn’t stop the game, known as the Lobster Zone.

The letter was prompted by Officer Dennis Ruvolo of the Police Department’s animal services division, who watched as a slow-moving lobster was chased about, snatched by the plastic claw and then dropped three feet down a chute to meet its fate--in that case, dinner.

“It just appeared as if they were subjecting them to unnecessary, inhumane treatment,” said Ruvolo, who said the game “was causing the lobsters injury. . . . It was almost making a sport of it.”

Animal rights activists are also outraged by the game, which is cropping up at restaurants and bars across the nation. But Sumo Sushi’s owner and the Lobster Zone’s manufacturer defended it, saying lobsters go through much worse.

“The lobsters come from the state of Maine,” said Sumo Sushi owner Khang Do, who purchased the coin-operated machine about a year ago after seeing an ad on the Internet.

“Hundreds of them are packed in ice with no water, and they are shipped in an airplane. It probably takes 24 hours for the whole transit. Is that not cruel? . . . What is the point of this guy telling us to stop?”

Besides, lobsters are creatures with a crude nervous system, and “do not process pain,” said J.R. Fishman, president of the Fort Lauderdale-based Advance Games and Engineering.

“It’s going to be very difficult for the authorities to prove that the lobsters are feeling pain. All this protest is generated by a lot of unfounded alarm, based on myth.”

Animal rights activists disagree.

“The machines are just so unbelievably absurd and cruel,” said Bruce Friedman, spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. “Do you treat lobsters any differently from dogs or cats? They’re all animals.”

The machines are similar to carnival and arcade games where a spider-like claw is used to try to grab a stuffed animal or other prize. Protests by activists have led to the removal of a handful of Lobster Zone machines, Friedman said.

Sumo Sushi’s manager said he is “disappointed” about the demise of the $8,500 game, especially because he planned to get two more Lobster Zones. There’s little he can do to fight it, he said.

“It’s a real shame,” Hoang said. “We never had any complaints [before].”

Some restaurant patrons said the city was taking the matter too seriously.

“This is ridiculous, and a waste of time,” said Randy Cox of Irvine. “Why don’t the officers use their time to clean up dead cats or get the rattlesnakes out of our backyard? It looks to me that they have too much time in their hands.”

Added Rick Centrangolo of Mission Viejo, “I actually believe the machine improves the odds of the lobster getting away. What is the difference when the outcome is the same? They are going to be thrown into boiling water! Maybe the city should outlaw eating lobster.”