An animal rights activist stormed into a seafood restaurant and ‘freed’ a lobster she believed was to be eaten – but it was only kept for educational purposes.
‘Misguided’ marine biologist Emma Smart, 47, has been handed a three-year restraining order banning her from being within 10 metres of the Catch at the Old Fish Market in Weymouth, Dorset after making the ‘impulsive’ decision.
Anthony Cooper, the owner of the Michelin Guide venue had kept the lobster for two-and-a-half years before the incident on April 10 last year.
At around 9pm, Smart stormed into the restaurant as guests were leaving and made a beeline for a fish tank.
She grabbed the crustacean, which Mr Cooper had used to educate children visiting the Catch, before barging past two members of staff who tried to stop her leaving with the showpiece.
The activist then released the creature in the harbour a few yards away. It is not known whether it survived the ordeal as it was never seen again.
Smart admitted one count of causing criminal damage to a lobster when she appeared at Bournemouth Crown Court.
The Crown Prosecution Service offered no evidence on charges of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal and assault in relation to allegations of Smart shoving a member of staff.
Some species of crayfish are listed as endangered on the global IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 – but lobsters are not.
Ben Thompson, prosecuting, said: ‘At 9pm on April 10 last year the defendant was waiting outside the entrance of the restaurant.
‘When the guests are leaving she comes in and a member of staff attempts to push her out of the property.
‘Eventually Ms Smart makes her way towards the tank that holds the crayfish, which is actually a lobster.
‘It had belonged to the restaurant owner Anthony Cooper for two-and-a-half years and was not for sale but instead for education reasons when children visit.
‘Ms Smart reached into the fish tank and took the lobster. Multiple members of staff tried to stop her but she left and leaned over a wall before placing it in the harbour, with the lobster not seen again.’
Defending, Kitan Ososami said Ms Smart made an ‘impulsive’ decision to take the lobster after seeing it in the tank.
She said: ‘She acted on impulse. She cares very deeply about animals and marine welfare and this was the driving factor behind her committing this offence.’
Smart, previously of Rodwell Street, Weymouth, but now living in West Wales, was given a conditional discharge lasting for eight months.
The judge also imposed a restraining order for three years banning her from going within 10 metres of the restaurant or approaching staff or guests.
Her Honour Judge Susan Evans said: ‘The lobster was not there for consumption. It was there for educational purposes.
‘You were determined to take it from the tank and you placed it in the harbour. It was a deeply misguided thing to have done.
‘It was not a good thing for the lobster at all and whether or not it survived, we don’t know.’
Smart had previously appeared in court over an incident at the same restaurant in 2022 when she tried to barge her way in to speak to Sir David Attenborough who had dined there.
She was calling on the veteran broadcaster and naturalist to support climate activists in prison and refused to leave when asked, shouting up the stairs where the broadcaster was eating with his production team.
Smart eventually had to be dragged out by two police officers and the restaurant owner but continued to shout outside.
She was issued with a section 35 dispersal order and then arrested for failing to comply with it.
But she was cleared of the charge when a judge ruled she had not been given enough time to comply with the order.
She had previously been jailed for four months in November 2021 after an Insulate Britain climate protest.
