The owner of a 20-pound live lobster examined during a TSA stop in Boston that has since gone viral is not pleased the crustacean was removed from its container.
Christopher Stracuzza, who spent $700 on lobsters for an annual feast with friends, objected to TSA agents at Logan International Airport posting pictures of the lobster on social media, he told the Boston Globe.
Stracuzza said the TSA violated his privacy by first removing the carefully packaged crustacean and then sharing it online. Stracuzza said the creature could have died from being repackaged incorrectly, while the seafood market that supplied the lobster said the TSA should have kept to themselves.
“I understand they have to go through some things to make sure everything is kosher, and everything is good to go. But to pull your luggage out and take a photo of it, and then post it online?” Stracuzza told the Globe. “If they are able to do this with just my lobster — yes, it was a large lobster that I purchased — who is to say they’re not posting photos of all kinds of stuff?”
Stracuzza has complained to the TSA but has not heard back from them yet.
.@TSA officers are skilled at screening all sorts of items in checked baggage…including this 20+ pound lobster at @BostonLogan pic.twitter.com/euhyyO6F7V
— Michael McCarthy (@TSAmedia_MikeM) June 26, 2017
A TSA spokesperson responded to the Boston Globe that there are no rules against bringing live lobsters as baggage but said they have to be brought in clear plastic containers.
The spokesperson also said the TSA will occasionally post pictures of findings in baggage in order to assist future passengers with what they can and cannot bring onto a plane.
Speaking about the largest lobster in the airport’s history, the spokesperson said the crustacean “cooperated quite nicely with the screening process.”
