In what may be the first case of its kind, a Sydney, Australia-based seafood company has been convicted of animal cruelty for dismembering live lobsters without "adequately stunning or killing them."

According to a story on The Guardian website, investigators in that country watched workers at the company separating the lobster's tails while they were still alive. The article states that rules in Australia call for lobsters to be “immersed in a salt water/ice slurry for a minimum of 20 minutes” before their lives are taken.

The company, Nicholas Seafood Traders, was fined $1,500 after representatives pleaded guilty.

If you remember, here in this country, Linda Bean's Rockland processing plant was brought into the forefront when an undercover PETA investigator worked there briefly back in 2013, and produced a VIDEO. The video caused much discussion here in Maine, and a year and a half later, the Portland Sea Dogs dropped Bean's lobsters from their menu at their ballpark in Portland.

Linda Bean and the lobster company were never charged with a crime, but Bean sold the now shuttered processing plant a few years later.

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