Apr 01 2009
Cruelty to Arthropods
I don’t eat lobster very often. Maybe once a year. Maybe. I’m also not a member of PETA, although I do share some of their concerns. Some.
With that said, you will understand why this recent science finding caused me pause my masticulation and contemplate my actions: Crabs Not Only Suffer Pain, But Retain Memory Of It.
Oh my. Crabs and lobsters are both arthropods, and it seems they can suffer. Have I, personally, caused arthropod suffering? Looks like it. My punishment? Fifty lashes with a wet length of linguine. Maybe in a white wine and garlic sauce.
The scientists made their determination by conducted a Stanley Milgram type experiment. Some guy in a white lab coat asked crabs questions, and when the crabs answered them wrong they were given a severe shock.
Just kidding. But a small electric shock was involved.
The man in the white lab coat went on record as saying -
Professor Elwood said: “There has been a long debate about whether crustaceans including crabs, prawns and lobsters feel pain.
Okay, if a lobster can feel pain, how much effort should I make to lessen its pain before I eat it, if any? A quick Internet search reveals many thoughts about how to best “dispatch” a lobster: sharp knife between the eyeballs (is there really anything between their eyeballs?), slowly raising the temperature of the water to boiling, subjecting them to a high-volume medley of Whitney Houston songs . . . .
I may have already given this matter too much thought. Why should I worry about lobster pain more than I do, say, the feelings of cockroaches? Simply because they are larger and edible? They certainly aren’t any cuter. I won’t hesitate a second before stepping on an indoors cockroach. Ouch.
The next time I buy and cook a lobster maybe I’ll go the route of frozen lobster tails. But I won’t be giving it all that much thought. I’ll save the mental and emotional energy for dealing with animals with brains.
[...] you are thinking! Your head, it starts to nod As “The Evolving Mind” ponders cruelty to arthropods! Poor lobsters feel pain? But if morality we prize, Can it be satisfied with [...]
Some years ago, groups like PETA got bent because Iron Chef Morimoto soaked lobsters in sake before cooking them. Apparently this was cruel. In light of this evidence, I’d say it was compassionate. He got them nicely soused before doing them in.
Personally, the little screams and sounds of scrapings on the inside of the pot just make me salivate more in anticipation of their eventual yumminess. :)
Nicely soused indeed.
Similarly, I have found that tossing back some wine will likewise dull any pangs of guilt/empathy I may for the creature I am about to have for dinner.
Lobsters do have brain you fucking twat, and even if you did buy frozen lobster it’s still been killed painfully by somebody else. You sound like such a smug prick when you say ‘I’ll save the mental and emotional energy for dealing with animals with brains.’ Fucking arsehole.
John, what lobsters do have is “two or three pairs of ganglia” at the anterior part of their body, coupled with a paired nerve cord that runs the length of the their body.
Is that a brain? Depends on where you set the threshold for “brain.” Can they feel pain? My guess is yes, but not to the same extent that animals with true(er) brains do. The lobster’s nervous system is very similar to that of a grasshopper. Which brings me to my point: I tend to give more consideration to the suffering of, say, pigs, than I do to grasshoppers. And I think this is reasonable, sarcastic tone or not.