Why do we boil lobster and crab alive? Do they feel pain?
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
Eugene, Oregon
February 5, 2018 12:47pm CST
In my last post, I talked about going to a fish market where they also sell fresh crab, caught out of the nearby Pacific Ocean. They have a huge crab cooker outside and since the season just opened, they are quite busy. You can buy cooked or live Dungeness whole crab for $5.99 per pound.
@JaboUK and @LadyDuck both raised the ethical/moral question of why we humans think it is okay to take these living creatures and boil them alive. In looking for answers, the only real reason seems to be that it is the "safest" way to cook them, safe for us anyway. It is less likely that the meat from these creatures will make us sick cooked that way.
There have been studies that prove that lobsters and crabs do feel pain, so we can't get off the moral hook by saying they do not. See link below.
I have never eaten lobster, and it has been years since I had a delicious Dungeness crab. I doubt, after giving some thought, if I will ever again.
But, we kill (or someone does it for us), living beings all the time to feed our faces and gain nutrition, so am I being hypocritical? We don't boil any other food sources alive that I know of, but much pain is inflicted in order to feed us.
No wonder my daughter and so many others become vegetarians.
What do you think?
http://science.time.com/2013/01/18/do-crabs-feel-pain-maybe-and-maybe-we-should-rethink-eating-them/
26 people like this
29 responses
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
5 Feb 18
I will never eat crab or lobster, but I don't think you and I are being hypocritical when we eat other creatures. Hopefully they have had a humane end and don't suffer pain. If we didn't eat them they wouldn't have a life at all. Farmers are not going to breed them to look pretty, are they?
4 people like this
@NJChicaa (116002)
• United States
5 Feb 18
@JamesHxstatic stab a knife into head
2 people like this
@scarlet_woman (23465)
• United States
6 Feb 18
anything alive feels pain in some fashion.
i used to tell the cooks at once place i dishwashed i could hear something when they threw lobsters in the pot.i could swear i heard a high pitched whine.
2 people like this
@topffer (42156)
• France
5 Feb 18
I like lobsters and you will not dissuade me to eat them. Humans are cruel. You are speaking of lobsters and crabs but before 1789 in France counterfeiters were boiled alive. They were screaming so much that it happened that the public blamed the executioners asking them to kill the counterfeiter(s) to stop their pain. If lobsters were screaming I would probably stop to eat them... And what is done to lobsters is nothing compared to what is done to snails, however I also like to eat snails.
2 people like this
@topffer (42156)
• France
5 Feb 18
@JamesHxstatic It is not enough, there are several ways to prepare and cook snails, and several kind of snails that can be eaten.
2 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
5 Feb 18
Wow, humans boiled alive? That is harsh punishment. I ate snails once and that was enough for me.
2 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
5 Feb 18
@topffer I will wait for snails until I get to France. I hope to sometime.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
5 Feb 18
If they die quickly and that is not certain.
1 person likes this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
5 Feb 18
I don't eat crab and lobster, and your link is interesting. However I don't think you and I are being hypocritical by eating meat, as hopefully the creatures concerned have met a humane end. Let's face it, most of them would not have a life at all if we didn't eat them. Farmers are not going to breed them to stand around eating their heads off and looking pretty, are they?
2 people like this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
7 Feb 18
@JamesHxstatic Sorry my comment appeared twice.
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@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
7 Feb 18
@jaboUK That is no problem at all for me.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
5 Feb 18
Probably not, Janet. Killing is killing I guess, and we wear leather shoes and belts. Slaughter of beef and pork is not always humane in the US, unfortunately.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (458179)
• Switzerland
6 Feb 18
You are right James, we kill other animals to feed ourselves and this is our nature, because we were created to eat both meat and vegetables, and not only vegetables. The reality is that we kill other animals so that they do not feel pain, while we think that there is no problem boiling alive lobsters and crabs. We do not grill alive a pork or a beef, so there is a lot of difference. What humans MUST do is to find a painless way to kill the animals we eat and stop abusing them. There is a way to avoid the pain to lobsters and crabs, they must be frozen for at least one hour. They do not feel pain being frozen and they do not feel pain when they are boiled. So there are no excuses, the method exists.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (458179)
• Switzerland
7 Feb 18
@JamesHxstatic If they are frozen from month "fresh" does not apply, but to place in a freezer for a couple of hours not to make them suffer makes sense, the products are anyway safe.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (73444)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
5 Feb 18
I know it is tough to decide. However, I will never stop having meat now and then and when I lived in the states my all time favorite treat was lobster. If and when I can get lobster again I will still eat it. What is interesting about this issue is that I read online that in Switzerland they say the lobster must be stunned before being killed.
2 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
5 Feb 18
I will probably pass on lobster and crab. Many countries take more care with food sources than the US, and many countries are far worse.
2 people like this
@nanette64 (20364)
• Fairfield, Texas
5 Feb 18
Even though I love lobster, it is hard to think about @JamesHxstatic . Some people don't realize either that when chickens are put on the conveyor belt and are headed for the boiling water that sometimes the blade that is supposed to cut their heads off first misses the chicken and the chicken goes into the boiling water alive.
2 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
5 Feb 18
@nanette64, I know that it happens with chickens and probably cattle and pigs. We are not as humane as we pretend to be.
2 people like this
@nanette64 (20364)
• Fairfield, Texas
6 Feb 18
@JamesHxstatic Very true. My Dad worked for a slaughter house when I was very young and when he would come home his white coat would be covered in blood. It was awful when he said they used a sledge hammer to bash in the cows head before hanging them upside down.
@JudyEv (325808)
• Rockingham, Australia
5 Feb 18
We have a local freshwater crayfish called a 'marron' and these are farmed nearby. Vince bought 4 for our 45th wedding anniversary and we had a dinner with two close friends. He'd been told to chill them off in the freezer then to push a knife through a particular spot which killed them instantly. He did this but he has said he'd never do it again. It does seem quite a humane way of killing - although even the terms are oxymoronic 
. I used to kill and dress chickens and if our life depended on it I could do so again but I have no wish to. But I continue to eat most meats and chose to try to ignore thinking about the 'live' product.
. I used to kill and dress chickens and if our life depended on it I could do so again but I have no wish to. But I continue to eat most meats and chose to try to ignore thinking about the 'live' product.2 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
5 Feb 18
I too prefer to let someone else do the slaughtering and will continue to eat meat and fish. I never killed a chicken, but saw it done by aunts when I was a kid. I can understand Vince's reluctance to repeat that "humane" killing.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
11 Feb 18
I never thought that anyone worried about plants and pain, but there is new research that is interesting.
Plants perceive the world without eyes, ears or brains. Understanding how can teach us a lot about them, and potentially a lot about us as well
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@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
11 Feb 18
@db20747 I have always heard that helps.
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@db20747 (43427)
• Washington, District Of Columbia
11 Feb 18
@JamesHxstatic this is interesting. I knew they grow in the direction of light, but responding with emotions is new. Guess that's why my grams plants grow so well, she talks to them!!
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@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
5 Feb 18
I hope not too, but studies seem to prove they do.
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@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
7 Feb 18
Years and years ago I did indeed used to eat both lobster and crab, that is until I did start reading articles that yes, they do feel pain when plunged into boiling hot water. I'm not even that much of a seafood eater now anymore either. I have a local supermarket that sells fish of all kinds and they do have tanks filled with live fish. In one tank they have catfish, a type of fish I used to absolutely love to eat, but the store often has that tank crammed full with so many fish they can't even move. Bottom line, it completely turned me off from eating seafood.
When you think of it though, how our society kills other types of animals raised for human consumption isn't exactly stellar either, especially in farm factories and no doubt you are aware of them. And no, I'm not exactly a vegetarian, but you might say I'm just more aware and mindful what I eat and have cut down.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
8 Feb 18
Yes, I am aware of our less than humane practices. None of the fish markets here sell live fish and that would add a layer of difficulty for me too. I never buy farmed fish and don't eat any fish not from the ocean.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply.
@allen0187 (58444)
• Philippines
6 Feb 18
I guess boiling them alive is one certain way of ensuring their freshness. As for the 'boiling alive' part, I never really thought about it but I guess, if there were a more humane way of preparing crab and lobsters, it should be done already instead of boiling these creatures.
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@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
6 Feb 18
@NJChiccaa puts a knife through the brain before boiling, might be better.
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@LeaPea2417 (36442)
• Toccoa, Georgia
6 Feb 18
I never even thought about crabs & lobsters feeling pain until I recently read an article about it. Here is another question,, do Fish feel pain when they are caught by people and then die before they are filleted.
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@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
6 Feb 18
That is a good one too. I can't imagine a fishhook in my mouth. We are a cruel species, I guess.
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@amadeo (111948)
• United States
5 Feb 18
@JamesHxstatic yes James I am sure they feel it.I feel it myself
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@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
6 Feb 18
I think we will continue to eat things in nature. I love lobster and crabs, my husband likes raw clams and mussels....icky to me... Our daughter became a vegetarian when she was a teen. In her 40th year she got really sick and the doctors discovered she had no iron in her body, they demanded she start eating meat, she started with chicken and will eat fish but still can't stomach beef...Its the mouth feel that keeps her away from beef...I found that very strange. I love a good steak.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
6 Feb 18
@JamesHxstatic ask your daughter to keep track with her health. My daughter teaches at a University and had no clue what was wrong when she got really sick. She had a real
Doctor for her physicals but had Homeopathy that she preferred too. She is healthy and happy now.
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
6 Feb 18
My daughter never liked meat much, became a vegetarian a few years ago. I worry about the iron too.
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
8 Feb 18
I always heard that they don't feel it, but that really never made sense. I guess it's no different than beating them in the head with a hammer to sell in a grocery store.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
8 Feb 18
Perhaps not. Some who replied put a knife through the brain before plopping them in to the boiling water.
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