LIVING WITHOUT HARM: DO NOT BOIL CRUSTACEANS ALIVE

WATCH VIDEO

Would you like to be boiled alive? It is so painful that it has been used as a form of torture throughout history, even by figures as depraved as Genghis Khan. He also subjected those who did not submit to him to atrocities such as impalement or gradually crushing people.

If we do not want those horrors inflicted on us, why do we do it to crustaceans? And why do we amputate their tails while they are alive if we do not like having our legs cut off—especially without anesthesia?

Surely you would not like to be kidnapped, locked up in an overcrowded tank with many others, or kept on ice while you shiver with cold, either?

Crustaceans do not like such cruelty either, as scientific evidence has shown that they feel pain. For example, a group of scientists led by Robert Elwood, an expert in animal behavior at Queen’s University Belfast, believes that lobsters, crabs, and other crustaceans share this sensitivity to pain. According to Elwood, the ability to feel pain is crucial for animals because it allows them to change their behavior after a harmful experience and increases their chances of survival.

Let us learn from the Swiss (among the most advanced and civilized on this issue and quite a few others), who have banned cooking lobsters, crabs, prawns, European lobsters, and other invertebrates alive because they are capable of feeling pain. Chefs must now, by law, use stunning methods that do not involve suffering for these animals.

In addition, in Switzerland, live crustaceans cannot be transported on ice or in ice-cold water, and marine species must always be kept in their natural environment. 

Other small milestones on this long path of fighting human evil include New Zealand’s protective regulations and the ruling of the Italian Supreme Court in June 2017, which established that lobsters cannot be kept on ice in restaurants due to the unjustifiable suffering this causes them before they are killed.

These advances, although very limited, offer hope that we will continue to progress from barbarism toward an evolved society. However, that civilizing process does not happen on its own, just like that; it happens thanks to people who do something to put an end to all those brutalities.

Do you want to be one of the protagonists on the side of the good in this cultural war between good and evil? Do not just stand by as a mere onlooker—much less become part of the army of the wicked!

Let us remember the words of Martin Luther King:

“What is troubling is not the depravity of the wicked, but the indifference of the good.”

What can an ethical, noble, and empathetic person do to put an end to these wrongs?:

1. 1. Choose plant-based options in your diet.
   2. Vote for anti-cruelty political parties.
   3. Sign campaigns like this one by Crustacean Compassion or this other one by FAADA.
   4. Share these kinds of messages.
   5. Persuade people around you.
   6. Donate money, both to the Institute of Wellbeing and to NGOs that are doing an excellent job defending animals, such as Animal Equality or PETA.
   7. Become a volunteer.

Thank you for being compassionate, decent, and a good person,