SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
You can no longer boil a lobster alive in Switzerland, unless you stun it first:
The Swiss government has ordered an end to the common culinary practice of throwing lobsters into boiling water while they are still alive, ruling that they must be knocked out before they are killed.
As part of a wider overhaul of Swiss animal protection laws, Bern said that as of 1 March, "the practice of plunging live lobsters into boiling water, which is common in restaurants, is no longer permitted". Lobsters "will now have to be stunned before they are put to death," the government order read.
According to Swiss public broadcaster RTS, only electric shock or the "mechanical destruction" of the lobster's brain will be accepted methods of stunning the animals once the new rule takes affect.
Also at BBC.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by theluggage on Saturday January 13 2018, @01:51PM (5 children)
So, where's the link to the scientific evidence that shows that "mechanical destruction of the brain" or electrical stunning causes the lobster less suffering to lobsters than being chucked into boiling water? Especially considering the odds of people screwing up the new, unfamiliar, "humane" procedure (so the lobster simply suffers a painful electric shock or being stabbed ~5mm to the left of its brain before being cooked alive anyway) - whereas most chefs can fairly reliably manage to boil a pan of water.
...and are they sure that transporting live lobsters "on ice" doesn't put them into torpor so they're pretty much out of it by the time they reach the pot?
I mean, sure, as a human I know which exit I'd vote for (given the absence of option D) but even that is (fortunately) based on imagination rather than experience - and I believe that there are one or two niggling physiological differences between humans and lobsters (exoskeletons and suchlike).
There's empathy, and then there's misguided anthropomorphism...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Gaaark on Saturday January 13 2018, @02:11PM (3 children)
And what about putting them in room temp water and bringing the water to a boil? Is that humane? Or is it worse because the pain would last longer?
Freeze the lobster for an hour, then plunge them into boiling water?
Cut the head off?
I hope they have laid out some clear-cut (if only) rules for 'destroying the brain':
"Am i doing this right? I'm not sure. The lobster isn't moving now, but is it just stunned? Did i just cause it so much pain that it has gone into shock? I dunno." Splooge. (Splash? Plunge?)
Let's try it on Bobby first to be sure. See what happens, then we'll work on the lobster.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 13 2018, @02:31PM (1 child)
Are you volunteering to be a test subject in this?
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday January 14 2018, @12:36AM
No, i'm volunteering Bobby. Learn to read! (or are you Bobby?.......)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday January 13 2018, @03:46PM
That is a point, how hard to you have to hit a lobster over the head for it to become braindead and not just merely stunned? Is it better to boil a braindamaged or in shock lobster then one that isn't? Perhaps they'll start selling certified lobster stunguns cause you just can't really be sure that the mallet did the trick.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Wootery on Tuesday January 16 2018, @10:35AM
The differences go even deeper than that! They have a number of ganglia, rather than single monolithic brain.