• An undercover PETA operative made a video of processes at Linda Bean's Maine lobster plant
• The video shows live lobsters having their heads and claws torn off
• Also filmed is cruel treatment of live crabs, which have their organs ground off on a wheel
• Law enforcement officials are reviewing PETA's complaint

By Alex Greig

PUBLISHED: 14:54 EST, 13 October 2013 | UPDATED: 04:29 EST, 14 October 2013

Law enforcement officials in Maine have said they will review a complaint filed by PETA about a local lobster and crab processing plant after the organization took a secret video of plant workers.

The footage was made by a PETA member who obtained full-time employment at the plant and wore a hidden camera to film its processes.

Plant owner Linda Bean, of iconic retailer L.L. Bean fame, says her company Linda Bean's Maine Lobster meets or exceeds all industry and government regulations or standards.

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District Attorney Geoffrey Rushlau says that in Maine, animal cruelty covers all sentient beings.

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines sentient as 'responsive to or conscious of sense impressions.'

Linda Bean's attorney Stephen Hayes told the Bangor Daily News that he does not consider lobsters to be sentient beings.

PETA held a news conference on Tuesday to unveil the video of what they claim is cruel and inhumane treatment of lobsters and crabs in Portland.

The video shows a Linda Bean's Maine Lobster worker showing the PETA operative the ropes.

First up, he shows how to prepare live lobsters by ripping their claws off then tearing off the head.

'They're a little feisty. They're very alive. Uh, so you just rip off their claw, like I said,' he says, pulling off the live lobster's claws.

'And just shove it in straight,' he demonstrates, removing the creature's head by impaling it on a blade and tearing off the body. 'Rip off their skull.'

'Even a lobster, after you rip their claws and their tails off... they'll crawl across the floor and everything,' he says.

'And they don't die right away. I mean, they'll live for hours.'

The bodies are thrown in a heap. At one point, one man jumps up and down on the bin of still-moving lobsters.

Next, a worker demonstrates how to process live crabs.

The live crabs' shells are struck or torn off. Their exposed organs are then pushed against spinning blade to remove them.

'Right where the mouth is, they come down on that spike,' says the worker, repeatedly smashing the live crab against the spike, pulling off the crab's shell then holding it against a spinning wheel as its legs still move.

'Get both sides and, like, find the guts inside,' he says, spinning off the creature's innards.

'See how they're still walking around?' he says, throwing the crab on a conveyerbelt.

'They're alive after you rip their things off?' asks the PETA operative.

'Yep,' comes the reply, adding while laughing that the crabs remain alive 'until they hit the boiling water'.

The mutilated crabs are then boiled alive.

Bean's attorney says that PETA's demands for more humane ways of killing lobsters are hypocritical, since the organization's aim is to stop all animals being used for food.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources and the Maine Lobstermen’s Association also have criticized PETA’s attack on Bean’s processing plant.

Rushlau told the Bangor Daily News that he will review the case further before deciding whether or not to take action.