Lobsters Unlikely [to] Feel Pain

[Majikthise]

When I was a lad ,my dad worked on the docks icing and fueling up fishing boats.The guys on the boats would often give him lobsters and fish as tips.We would sometimes have lobster(and alot of it!)2 or 3 times a week.When you are putting them in the pot they just hang there limp.Drop em' in the pot and shut the lid real quick because big ones will knock the pot lid off from all the thrashing.They stop after a few seconds.To this day I cannot even stand the smell of lobster,and everyone thinks i'm nuts.Lobster overload.

 

[Circle_One]

This would be a great debate for those who follow Rene Descartes thoughts on animal pain receptors. He thought that no animals could feel pain, that they were simply life-like machines. He said the noises they exert and the movements they make when being put through pain weren't really indicators of them being in pain, but rather a simple reflex of their mechanical "motors" being poked, prodded (or boiled) etc. Obviously his thoughts are more complicated than that, this is just me paraphrasing my memories of Modern Philosophy. I haven't taken it in a year, but I'm sure I could look up my old books and work if anyone wanted me to elaborate more on the subject. </rambling>

 

[mrscardero]

Make sure that when you make a Lobster that you have a shell/nut cracker. carrdero took lobster tail with him to work for dinner one night and I didn't remove it from the shell because the presentation was like restaurant quality

. Needless to say that for him, it was a mess. Lobsters are more for home meals than taking it to work unless you remove the meat from the shell.

 

[michel]

There were a couple of threads on vegetarianism in Off Topic Discussion when I first joined that dealt with subject of eating living entities that you might find informative Michel. We delve into the aspects of morals regarding the plant kingdom as well as the animal kingdom.

Point taken (although I couldn't find the thread) I realize that there would be nothing to eat if I was to take my belief system to the limit; However, I notice you rather neatly side-stepped the point on pain!

 

[cardero]

Point taken (although I couldn't find the thread) I realize that there would be nothing to eat if I was to take my belief system to the limit; However, I notice you rather neatly side-stepped the point on pain!

Stand by Michel, mrscarrdero may find the source of that thread but I think that RFmembers came to the same conclusions as you mentioned that if this was a concern there would be nothing to eat. As far as my feelings on pain I have never encountered a pain that was permanent.

Off Topic Discussion pg.41 11/30-vegetarians?!

 

[kreeden]

Well , lobster do scream sometimes when they are cooked . Really . But it is actually air escaping the shell ... Sounds kinda freaking though .

As for lobsters killing a person , don't think so . They will eat anything though . They are scavengers after all .

I do believe that they do feel pain , however if the water is hot enough , it is over quite quick .


BTW if you want to take lobster to work , try a lobster roll . Basically they are lobster salad { like chicken salad } in a hotdog bun . Quite tasty and uae to be very common in Nova Scotia .

 

[rivet]

I'm reminded of the Simpsons episode where Homer gave his pet lobster a hot bath. Doh! And then ate him while his family watched ... Pinky would have wanted it that way.

 

[painted wolf]

well... considering the source of the reserch...

I'm still not sure about the pain thing. They attempt to remove themselves from injury, that to me is not just a survival thing it is a pain thing... otherwise how would you know you are in iminent risk of loss of life?

I will admit I like the taste of Lobster but I try to make shure they are dead just prior to going into the pot... rather a quick stab with a knife than slowly boiling to death.
I also try not to eat Lobster very often, maybe once a year or so.

wa:do

 

[Melody]

some of us, like myself, have never had lobster, or have seen one put in boiling water. Could someone tell us about it. Do they seem to precieve danger..how do they react when they are put in the water ect ect.....I am just woefully igorant on this.

Go ahead and throw things at me. I lived on an island 10 miles off the coast of Maine for 3 years and ate lobster every other day. Yes I did put the lobster in the pot. It didn't react any differently than when I put it in the sink. Does this mean it didn't feel pain? I don't know. I do know that within 15-30 seconds, they're no longer alive.

 

[Melody]

Another way of thinking about it. And I'm sure NetDoc knows this. If you go diving in a swarm of lobsters, they won't think twice. YOU ARE FOOD. Same with crabs. They don't care if it is humane to eat you.

However, I don't think that is any excuse to eat them at the rate that we do. Whether or not they feel it doesn't matter. I wonder if we will eat them to extinction? Anyone know the numbers? Wolf?

Definitely are less than when the first settlers arrived here. I read a description in one of the archival books on the island and there was a description of lobsters actually crawling on the beach. Can't even imagine.

Now they have limits on the size you are allowed to keep and the number you can keep as a way of keeping it from being fished to death.

 

[Majikthise]

Lobsters have it easy compared to oysters.I wonder what those 12 little buggers are talking about while they slowly get digested alive.Maybe the same thing we are , only about plankton.