Do lobsters feel pain?

[psijac]

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=xC2HX5fdJFs[/youtube]

[A-R]

you boil a lobster to STOP the lobster from attacking you when you eat it

what this woman does with the knife is just murder, pure and simple

[Liberty]

Lobstors are Sea bugs. One need not worry about inflicting pain on a bug. A lobster isn't concerned about the the pain it will inflict on you.

[NOS]

So...Freezing it on it's back for 20 minutes and then dispatching it with a chef's knife is more humane, than just flash boiling it????

[KaiserB]

Just a quick tip ... throw the lobster in the pot of boiling water, that will kill it every time. Also please do not shoot the lobster prior to boiling, that wastes too much of the meat.

Lobsters and crustaceans in general have a very rudimentary nervous system so the do not feel pain! There was a big bunch of crap on this subject about 15 year ago when people were claiming the lobsters screamed in pots of boiling water. It ended up being an air sack inside the lobster making the noise, not the actual lobster.

[Abraham]

I guess I'm going to ... that place that I can't spell out here cuz I flash boil micro lobsters, you know, crawfish...by the jillions .

[puma guy]

Only when spurned by another lobster of the opposite sex!

[bigred90gt]

I guess I'm going to ... that place that I can't spell out here cuz I flash boil micro lobsters, you know, crawfish...by the jillions .

I like to refer to them as ditch lobsters.

[randomoutburst]

Lobsters and crustaceans in general have a very rudimentary nervous system so the do not feel pain!

I've taken many biology courses and I have to disagree. Anything with a nervous system can feel pain. The complexity of the nervous system may change the way it is received and the response that occurs, but lobsters and crustaceans can feel pain. Animals, especially the dumbest ones, would never learn how to stay alive without responding to things that hurt it, and learning from those painful experiences.

That being said, I think flash boiling it is more humane than freezing it and cutting it with a knife. I've read in many places that it dies almost immediately once it's thrown into the pot.

Not that I really care what's humane for the lobster, because I just want to eat the darn thing. Yummy!

[Medic218]

I guess I'm going to ... that place that I can't spell out here cuz I flash boil micro lobsters, you know, crawfish...by the jillions .

Well, if you're in DFW then you should holler at me. I haven't been to a boil or had crawfish in years. Sad, yes I know.
I'll be happy to pitch in on it.

[terryg]

Lobsters and crustaceans in general have a very rudimentary nervous system so the do not feel pain!

I've taken many biology courses and I have to disagree. Anything with a nervous system can feel pain. The complexity of the nervous system may change the way it is received and the response that occurs, but lobsters and crustaceans can feel pain. Animals, especially the dumbest ones, would never learn how to stay alive without responding to things that hurt it, and learning from those painful experiences.

That being said, I think flash boiling it is more humane than freezing it and cutting it with a knife. I've read in many places that it dies almost immediately once it's thrown into the pot.

Not that I really care what's humane for the lobster, because I just want to eat the darn thing. Yummy!

The 'they don't feel pain' argument makes it easier for some to tolerate the process by which they get to eat them.

[KaiserB]

If lobsters clawed to the top of the pot and yelled at me (in English) that they were in pain, I would toss another lobster on top of them to hold them under :) Then eat them both.

[The Annoyed Man]

I am in favor of hunting. Let me get that out right up front. But I needed to say that to preface what I say next....

I don't see how any pain a lobster might feel is even an issue. I can't imagine that being shot through the heart and lungs is without pain for the animal we shot while hunting, and yet we don't concern ourselves with these things. As anyone who has ever shot a hog or a white tail knows, and animal can sometimes drop dead instantly upon being hit, or it can run 50 or 100 yards and die more slowly. We try to make it quick, but we're not always successful, and not much sleep is lost over whether an animal drops dead right there, or whether it runs before expiring - so long as we don't have to tramp around too long trying to find it.

A lobster dropped in a pot of boiling water certainly feels something like pain. But it's pain is also over within a second or two, which is less time than we usually expect it to take when shooting a large mammal. It can take longer than 2 seconds for a steer or a hog in an abattoir to die. So I ask, why do we even worry about it? If we consume animals, then pain is an unavoidable part of that consumption. The only way to truly avoid it is to not eat it.

I choose to eat it, and I accept all the consequences that come with eating it, including the probability of some pain for the animal I consume. If I couldn't live with that, I would be a vegetarian.

[KaiserB]

I am in favor of hunting. Let me get that out right up front. But I needed to say that to preface what I say next....

I don't see how any pain a lobster might feel is even an issue. I can't imagine that being shot through the heart and lungs is without pain for the animal we shot while hunting, and yet we don't concern ourselves with these things. As anyone who has ever shot a hog or a white tail knows, and animal can sometimes drop dead instantly upon being hit, or it can run 50 or 100 yards and die more slowly. We try to make it quick, but we're not always successful, and not much sleep is lost over whether an animal drops dead right there, or whether it runs before expiring - so long as we don't have to tramp around too long trying to find it.

A lobster dropped in a pot of boiling water certainly feels something like pain. But it's pain is also over within a second or two, which is less time than we usually expect it to take when shooting a large mammal. It can take longer than 2 seconds for a steer or a hog in an abattoir to die. So I ask, why do we even worry about it? If we consume animals, then pain is an unavoidable part of that consumption. The only way to truly avoid it is to not eat it.

I choose to eat it, and I accept all the consequences that come with eating it, including the probability of some pain for the animal I consume. If I couldn't live with that, I would be a vegetarian.

+1

You do realize if you become a vegetarian, there are studies that show plants are affected by you stealing their offspring and eating them. :)