Comments on: The Misunderstood Crustacean: Study Suggests They Do Feel Pain

By: anthony

anthony — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 04:00:00 +0000

If you want to kill lobsters humanely just slice through their head with a knife before cooking them. No brain no pain!

By: david

david — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 07:30:56 +0000

The complex nervous system was probably among the very last to develop among animals in evolutionary history. This is clear when investigating the development of animal foetuses which is sort of a time capsule of evolutionary development. In other words many primitive organisms protected themselves and responded against damaging stimuli without the necessity of “pain”.

Lobsters may have a very primitive or basic nervous system, but it’s clear because of their brain structure that scientists can deduce that they don’t have complex brain process that show self-awareness . So the notion of “suffering” isn’t really an issue. Self-awareness is a requirement to comprehend neurological signals as something “bad happening to me” .

By: Sherp

Sherp — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 15:03:38 +0000

I’m surprised at how much god is being brought up… “lower animal” or not, it just seems like common sense to assume that organisms feel pain to some degree for the purpose of self preservation. As a human that’s not prepared to give up my omnivorous, seafood-loving ways, I think that with regards to the food industry it’s important to minimise the pain of death for these animals as much as possible. A large, sharp knife quickly brought down through the head to destroy the brain tissue prior to boiling sounds like it would do the trick to me.

By: Brent B

Brent B — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 02:03:40 +0000

Also, so God put fewer neuro receptors in their brains so that pain wouldn’t be so bad when we brutally killed them for food?

What an asshole.

By: Brent B

Brent B — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 02:01:04 +0000

@Redtailhawker – Aye, true but we have BOTH while they only have ONE. We as humans can compare the two types of pain, while the “lower animal” only has the one. You have NO basis for assuming how intense the pain is for these creatures, or whether its any less (or greater for that matter) than the pain we experience. The fact that they only have these “limited” pain receptors might make the pain all the greater? It could intensify the emotional response..etc any number of factors could make the pain equal or greater than the pain we experience.

I’m not saying it IS one way or the other, but I concede that I really don’t know as I have never been a lobster.

By: SBuckley91

SBuckley91 — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 04:58:04 +0000

@redtailhawker Who the hell are we to say how they feel? What, were you a “lower animal” at one point in your life? Did you EVER feel the pain they felt? I personally know I am not sure what they feel. I have no clue. However, I would rather say that they feel pain and avoid torturing the poor creature then saying they feel little or none and putting it through excruciating pain.

Yes. Predators may miss. But MISS means it was an accident. I don’t think that bringing a pot of water to 325 degrees placing the Lobster in, seasoning the water and closing the lid counts as an accident. I don’t even like slicing them in half. There are tons of stories about humans heads getting chopped off in a guillotine and still reacting to stimuli.

By: redtailhawker

redtailhawker — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:43:33 +0000

First I want to comment on the subject of pain. We humans have a complex neuro system. Pain to us is more descriptive in our brains because we have more receptors. (Kind of like a high-res monitor is very sharp/clear.) Lower animals have less (and would be like the old VGA monitors, or less, in this comparison). So let’s say you get stabbed in a mugging … very painful!!! Now, let’s say you spear a fish… does the fish feel it? Heck, yeah! BUT, the pain WON’T be as intense as we would imagine it (like in the mugging mentioned above). It would be more like a “sharp thud” to the fish. God put fewer neuro receptors in lower animals for a REASON.
This brings me to my second comment. We’re talking predator vs. prey here. When predators like, say, lions or raptors go after prey, though they are efficient hunters, they may not always hit their mark on the first try. This means that, a lot of the time, the prey animal is maimed before it it brought-down and dispatched. Now, have you ever noticed that predators have their eyes more toward the front of their heads, and that prey animals’ eyes are to the sides? (This is for a reason, folks.) With that in mind, as humans, where are our eyes? That’s right, we’re PREDATORS! Now, stop whining and eat your shellfish! Oh, and if you are a vegan, you’re still killing plants. You must kill (or eat something that has been killed) in order to survive. Period.
…and I’m not saying to torture the lobster – I’m saying that the methods used to dispatch and prepare these shellfish for our consumption is absolutely within reason. Peace-out!

By: CA

CA — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:10:27 +0000

The way we kill lobsters is vile. I can’t eat any shellfish because of the methods we use to kill them…

By: Jim Gwonkley

Jim Gwonkley — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:37:07 +0000

Instead of having a pain reflex, lobsters and crabs should just make themselves less tasty. Then, there won’t be a problem.

By: JR Minkel

JR Minkel — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:04:55 +0000

um, did somebody say: “consider the lobster”!!??
gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2004/08/consider_the_lobster