If you were a lobster in Maine, would you rather

[Skidmore]

be dropped live into a boiling pot of water or electrocuted live with a Crustestun? before being dropped in the boiling pot of water??????!!?!?!??? I heard this little story on NPR this morning on the way in. There something really absurd about it. Dead is dead. Now if you are squeamish about how your food gets that way, then don't eat it. Period.

[underpants]

1. I'm stunned

http://crustastun.com/

The single stunner


The Unit is designed in restaurant-grade (corrosion resistant), easy-clean brushed stainless-steel. The moulded upper electrode is within the interior of the lid. Incorporated are a number of specifically designed safety inter-locks.

Operation; the individual shellfish is placed on a sprung lower steel plate resting in a shallow bath of brine (sea-water concentration) and the lid closed. The Operator simply presses a button. The Unit is pre-set to deliver the required duration of electric current to produce instant anaesthesia and kill within 5 seconds in the case of Lobsters and Crayfish and within 10 seconds in Crabs.

Apart from the operational advantages which this Unit brings to Restauranteurs, it is;

Fast, clean & efficient
Reduces stress & improves meat quality in terms of texture & flavour
Can be used by unskilled staff
Conforms to Standards of Humane killing & acceptable to the general public

[meegbear]

4. If they make it big enough, we could do executions with it ...

if it's humane enough for lobsters ....

[Freddie Stubbs]

18. Do humans have a similar central nervous system as lobsters?

:shrug:

[meegbear]

20. Dunno, but I'm sure it could be "retrofitted"

[Uncle Roy]

13. Do they have any natural enemies beside Bulbous Americanus?

Their fate in the wild is probably not so pleasant either, nor as brief.

I give my lobstahs a little white wine first. They seem to like it, and throw themselves cheerfully into the pot, singing...

Roy

[WinkyDink]

2. No, dead is not dead. There IS a little intermediate stage called "torture" here.

Being "squeamish" is not the same as being "humane".

BTW, do you sanction the killing of cockroaches? Because, literally, lobsters are the roaches of the sea.

[Skidmore]

5. I can't imagine that it is a pleasant experience to be electrocuted

either. Sounds like torture to me.

And I would exterminate cockroaches in my home to make certain they are gone. I don't eat cockroaches, or lobster for that matter.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. Alright, too much information.

Although, we did drive up to Maine last summer, just 'cuz hubby wanted to say he's been to every corner of the USA, and we had lobster at this small restaurant by the sea. I ordered the lobster and I've never had it so good. So, I resolved that I would never buy it again, unless I found myself in Maine, because everything else will just tarnish the memory.

[LiberalEsto]

12. I've done the same thing

It just doesn't taste good when you eat it somewhere else.

[mainegreen]

3. Or you could just stab it in the head with a knife.

I've found that also kills them rather quickly.

[underpants]

7. Bookmarking

for future reference

Thanks

[Sweet Freedom]

8. There will always be the debate whether crustaceans feel pain

Boiling Lobsters Likely Feel No Pain, Study Concludes

By Clarke Canfield
Associated Press
posted: 14 February 2005
05:24 pm ET



PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- A new study out of Norway concludes that it's unlikely lobsters feel pain, stirring up a long-simmering debate over whether Maine's most valuable seafood suffers when it's being cooked.

Animal activists for years have claimed that lobsters feel excruciating agony when they are cooked, and that dropping one in a pot of boiling water is tantamount to torture.

The study, which was funded by the Norwegian government and written by a scientist at the University of Oslo, suggests that lobsters and other invertebrates probably don't suffer even if lobsters do tend to thrash in boiling water.

<snip>

It concluded that most invertebrates -- including lobsters, crabs, worms, snails, slugs and clams -- probably don't have the capacity to feel pain.


http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/ap_lobster_pain_050214.html

[RaleighNCDUer]

17. That's just silly. They have nerves. Therefore, they feel pain.

Feeling pain is a survival mechanism. Anybody try a simple experiment? Put your crustacean on a stove top, turn on the electric burners. If they walk across them without hesitation, they feel no pain. If the pull away upon touching them, they feel pain.

I guarantee, they will not walk across the hot coils.

[Sweet Freedom]

21. Sorry, my crustacean stepped out for a minute,

I'll have to conduct the experiment later. :)

I'm really not versed on the subject (just pointing out an article), but I found your nerve comment interesting, so I looked it up and found this:

From this website:
http://www.lobsterscience.ca/bin/askascientist?qa=1

Is it true that lobsters do not have a central nervous systems and plunging them in boiling water is not inhumane?
Similar to insects, the nervous system of a lobster is very simple and neither insects nor lobsters have real brains. Lobsters have a series of 15 nervous ganglia that span the length of the lobster, on the ventral side or belly side, with nerves projecting from each of these ganglia. The first ganglion is the closest thing to a brain. In general, for an organism to perceive pain it must have a complex nervous system. Many scientists that are studying the nervous system of lobsters tell us that they do not process pain. Lobsters don’t have a cerebral cortex, which is where pain is processed in humans or dogs and cats. If they do feel pain, it is most definitely in a different way than humans do. A new study out of Norway concluded that most invertebrates - including lobsters, crabs, worms, snails, slugs and clams - probably don't have the capacity to feel pain.

<end>

I would think their pain threshold must be different. If we lost a limb, it would be excruciatingly painful, yet crustaceans lose claws and don't seem to be affected.

[theboss]

9. Which way results in a tastier lobster?

Shouldn't that be the issue?

I spent four days in Maine this summer. I'm not sure I can ever eat lobster in any other state again.

[maine_raptor]

10. Having consummed many a tasty Crustean in my time

let me offer a third way.

Wack'em with a wooden mallet. It's cheaper and enviro-friendly too!

And for the record: IMHO, the damn things are too stupid to feel pain as we know it.


Oh, and The Backlash Cometh............thanks for spending your money up here. Hope you bought some of those gen-u-wine, made-in-Maine, tacky lobster ashtrays we are also so famous for. :rofl:

[Maine-ah]

16. LOL

you can also rest them upside down, or tickle them, both tend to "knock them out"

oh, and for those that say they "scream" it's actually steam coming through their shells.

[soothsayer]

11. Put 'em in the freezer a bit to put 'em to sleep. then boil 'em.

[Uncle Roy]

15. Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice.

That old crustacean Robert Frost had some thoughts on the matter:

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

[Solly Mack]

14. If I were a Maine lobster I would go in search of the Incredible Mr Limpet

and we would run..er..swim? off together, enjoying our delightful, if slightly unusual, relationship

But that's just me

I'd hafta pass on the boiling pot of water

[Maine-i-acs]

19. You put them in cold water first -

Then you turn up the heat. As the water boils, the lobstah's metabolism slows down into an eventual coma, and it dies in its sleep. I have done it this way for many years.