Sydney Fines Fishmonger for Cruelty to Lobsters

[Debby]

An Australian court just found a fisher monger in Sydney guilty of animal cruelty for cutting the tails off live lobsters with a band saw, without killing or stunning them first. I would imagine that this would be the equivalent of having someone cut a person off at the hips, while they're fully conscious! At least the court did something even though a little fine like $1500.00 seems inconsequential considering the terrible pain that he inflicted on the lobsters.


'Expert veterinary witness Associate Professor Culum Brown told Sydney’s Downing Centre court on Tuesday it was a “very poor” method. “These animals are covered under NSW animal welfare legislation because of their proven capacity to feel pain,” he said. Crustaceans were added to the act in 1997, after scientific opinion shifted towards their capacity to feel pain, including a 1994 submission from the Queensland bureau of animal welfare.
Then MLC Richard Jones of the Australian Democrats told the Legislative Councilthat “crustaceans have a complex central nervous system and their behaviour shows that they feel pain” as he argued for the change.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...cted-of-animal-cruelty-over-lobster-treatment

 

[Warrigal]

Good.
I don't go to the fish markets where there are live creatures available for sale.
I always want to cut the bonds used to tie up the big crabs.

 

[Debby]

I feel the same way Warrigal. Poor lobsters, such a terrible demise.

In Canada, an MP last year put a bill forward to modernize animal cruelty laws and our week kneed politicians wouldn't put it through. Our animals have very little protection with the current 150 year old laws.

A Buddhist restaurant in Charlottetown here, also last year, bought 160 live lobsters and then someone they knew took them way out to deep water and let them go. That kindness in turn was rewarded by having the little restaurant they run, vandalized with spray paint and the shrubbery in the planters torn up. The joke was on the vandals however because apparently the Buddhist Society was planning anyway to spruce the place up and the fresh paint makes the building look even more appealinglayful:.

 

[chic]

I feel sorry for lobsters period. What could be crueler than the way we cook them?
If I were starving, I'd eat a lobster to stay alive, but I'm not, so I won't. There are other things to eat.

 

[Wilberforce]

Good

 

[Debby]

I feel sorry for lobsters period. What could be crueler than the way we cook them?
If I were starving, I'd eat a lobster to stay alive, but I'm not, so I won't. There are other things to eat.

I was just reading a link that says when they are boiled alive, they don't have the ability to go into shock at extreme pain like mammals do so they wind up feeling the pain for up to 45 seconds. Can you imagine what that is like? 45 seconds of boiling??? And if a lobster is dismembered, they can feel the pain for up to an hour!

There are so many things that we're learning that point to a terrible cruelty.

http://www.animalsaustralia.org/features/6-incredible-lobster-facts.php

 

[angelica]

I would'nt eat a lobster because of that cruelty! I've seen that they're thrown in boiling hot water-alive!

 

[Capt Lightning]

I think that lobster is very over-rated. The last time I ate one was at a 'clam bake' in Newport, R.I. I much prefer edible brown crab myself, but they should be killed humanely before cooking.

 

[Falcon]

This is why I've never ordered lobster.

 

[Wilberforce]

It is possible to kill them as humanley as any other creature, The boiling method affects the tissues and makes the meat tender. I don't drop them in boiling water, but I do cook them humanley.

 

[chic]

I was just reading a link that says when they are boiled alive, they don't have the ability to go into shock at extreme pain like mammals do so they wind up feeling the pain for up to 45 seconds. Can you imagine what that is like? 45 seconds of boiling??? And if a lobster is dismembered, they can feel the pain for up to an hour!

There are so many things that we're learning that point to a terrible cruelty.

http://www.animalsaustralia.org/features/6-incredible-lobster-facts.php

It's that way for all shellfish. I hate to even think of them being cooked. We're sophisticated enough to be more humane to animals than this in 2017 IMHO. I know some people love to eat them, but I just can't.

 

[Ruthanne]

I feel the same way Warrigal. Poor lobsters, such a terrible demise.

In Canada, an MP last year put a bill forward to modernize animal cruelty laws and our week kneed politicians wouldn't put it through. Our animals have very little protection with the current 150 year old laws.

A Buddhist restaurant in Charlottetown here, also last year, bought 160 live lobsters and then someone they knew took them way out to deep water and let them go. That kindness in turn was rewarded by having the little restaurant they run, vandalized with spray paint and the shrubbery in the planters torn up. The joke was on the vandals however because apparently the Buddhist Society was planning anyway to spruce the place up and the fresh paint makes the building look even more appealinglayful:.

Bless the Buddhists! I, too, want to cut the bands on the lobsters when I see them in the tanks in the super market.

 

[aeron]

When we cook lobster we first put into the freezer for ten minutes. That way they don't freeze but do go comatose and so don't wriggle when they are dropped into the boiling water. We both love lobster, same with most shellfish such as mussels which we collect off the rocks during the winter months from the nearby beach to our home.

 

[Debby]

Do you think they 'wake up' when you drop them in the boiling water?

 

[aeron]

Do you think they 'wake up' when you drop them in the boiling water?

Not for long!

 

[Camper6]

Unless you are a vegetarian anything we do to eat is 'animal cruelty'.

 

[Debby]

That's true Camper. And sadly aeron, some pigs and chickens experience the same thing those lobsters do.

 

[WhatInThe]

Killing for food is one thing. The lack of humane treatment for taste is another. At least one court realizes this.

Again have no problem killing a creature for food. Most living things realize they could very well become part of the food chain which they accept. A torturish death they do not

 

[Debby]

Sadly WhatInThe, even their lives are torturous.

 

[Camper6]

Killing for food is one thing. The lack of humane treatment for taste is another. At least one court realizes this.

Again have no problem killing a creature for food. Most living things realize they could very well become part of the food chain which they accept. A torturish death they do not

Not true. When I was young I could remember trucks bringing swine to the slaughterhouse. They were squealing like babies. They don't accept it. Nothing living accepts death gracefully.

 

[Warrigal]

Very perceptive. The will to survive is strong in all life forms. The more intelligent the animal, the greater the trauma when facing execution.

 

[WhatInThe]

Not true. When I was young I could remember trucks bringing swine to the slaughterhouse. They were squealing like babies. They don't accept it. Nothing living accepts death gracefully.

Accept was a poor choice of words but they realize/know even if instinctually they are on a predators menu. They know they will have to flee or fight one day and probably have seen their brethren go down probably more than once.

 

[Camper6]

Accept was a poor choice of words but they realize/know even if instinctually they are on a predators menu. They know they will have to flee or fight one day and probably have seen their brethren go down probably more than once.

You are kidding yourself. Turkeys think the farmer is a good guy because he feeds them every day. Do they know he is the ultimate predator and one day will cut off their heads and stuff bread you know where?

 

[WhatInThe]

You are kidding yourself. Turkeys think the farmer is a good guy because he feeds them every day. Do they know he is the ultimate predator and one day will cut off their heads and stuff bread you know where?

It's not about loyalty or liking. Most animals follow & protect the food. Even people, criminals in particular commit another crime to be sent to jail for 3 hots and a cot. It's not about loyalty it's about survival. Most animals just want to be left alone, not in a crowd in a cage they just want to be left alone except for some herd animals.

 

[aeron]

We are part of the food chain. For most people that chain includes flesh. Slaughtering living beings is generally done in a way that avoids as much pain and stress as practicable except in the case of halal killing which should be banned without a moments delay.

Not a single moment.

In some cases such as crustatia the best that can be done is to minimise the pain or at least minimise its duration and in the case of band sawing live and conscious lobsters stunning the things first is both practicable and very desirable and just feels right.