{"id":761420,"date":"2020-09-15T07:43:12","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T11:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=761420"},"modified":"2020-09-15T07:47:55","modified_gmt":"2020-09-15T11:47:55","slug":"give-them-a-good-death-debate-rages-over-alive-lobster-cooking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=761420","title":{"rendered":"GIVE THEM A ‘GOOD DEATH’: Debate rages over ALIVE lobster cooking"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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No animal is more evolved or less evolved than another. Each animal is evolved perfectly for its specific ecological niche. We should be protecting all animals that are capable of experiencing pain.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\n

MICHAEL DAHLSTROM:<\/strong> The ethics of boiling lobsters and crabs while they\u2019re conscious is being fiercely debated after the national body representing UK vets called on the practice to be outlawed. Crustaceans show signs of distress and pain according to the British Veterinary Association (BVA) in a revised animal slaughter policy released in August, and that\u2019s a position supported locally by the RSPCA. Cooking the animals without stunning is banned in a number of countries including New Zealand and Switzerland, however, in Australia, the legislation varies in each state or territory…<\/p>\n

Across Australia, the RSPCA advocate for stunning to ensure immediate \u201closs of sensibility\u201d before death and believe crustacea should be \u201ccaptured, handled, transported, stored and killed humanely\u201d… For lobsters, \u201ccurrent best-practice\u201d involves chilling them for 20 to 60 minutes until they are \u201cstunned or insensible\u201d before they are killed via boiling or receive a spike to the back of the head… In years gone by, researchers dismissed the idea higher animals could feel pain, but now that thinking has changed and their sentience is becoming widely accepted… Despite a growing list of Australian industry bodies adopting practices to minimise crustacea stress, not all researchers are convinced that lobsters feel pain.<\/p>\n

While he welcomes consumers thinking about animal welfare, Professor Caleb Gardner, a fisheries scientist at UTAS, says evidence points to these crustacea reacting to the sensation as a reflex only. \u201cThere’s not a lot of right options for crustaceans unfortunately, and one of the reasons is they don’t have a simple clear brain,\u201d Prof Gardner said. \u201cAll the guidelines for killing poultry or killing livestock humanely generally involves doing something to the brain, so you\u2019ve got one target. \u201cYou don’t have that option in a lobster where there’s 12 little brains if you like down its body”.<\/p>\n

Advocating for the humane treatment of lobsters and other decapods most vocally is UK animal welfare organisation Crustacean Compassion, which does not have an equivalent in Australia. The group\u2019s co-founder, Maisie Tomlinson, spoke to Yahoo News Australia from her London home, saying research has shown that it can take a brown edible crab up to three minutes to die when boiled in a pot, and death could be even slower for lobsters as they are larger. \u201cNow, clearly, that is absolutely unacceptable for any animal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would not accept that in a vertebrate animal like rabbits, or a rat, or a mouse, in fact under EU law, the requirement is that animals should lose consciousness within one second. \u201cSo for them to remain conscious for three minutes\u2026 is just completely unacceptable”… Ms Tomlinson said she hopes the BVA\u2019s statement on sentience in crustacea will be the first step in giving them legal protection both in the UK and across the globe. \u201cNo animal is more evolved or less evolved than another,\u201d she said. \u201cEach animal is evolved perfectly for its specific ecological niche. \u201cWe should be protecting all animals that are capable of experiencing pain”. SOURCE…<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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