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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: 5, Insightful) by Immerman on Saturday January 13 2018, @06:31PM (2 children)
One of the indicators used to determine "suffering" in other species is excessive grooming of injuries. Dogs, cats, horses, etc. will worry at injuries or amputations for prolonged periods after the damage is done. Insects on the other hand will just vary their stride until the damage is compensated for. Lobsters fall into the grooming category.
As for speculating on whether other animals actually feel pain (we are after all just particularly smart animals - there's a large and growing body of evidence that pretty much everything else we credit as "human" is actually shared by many other species) - I would challenge you to prove that you yourself feel pain, and don't just behave in a manner I associate with how I react to pain. Can't be done. And in the absence of an objective way to measure subjective experience, the compassionate person will give others the benefit of the doubt, and do what they can to avoid needless suffering.
And it's not like zapping a lobster's head with a taser before tossing it in the pot is going to raise the price appreciably.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday January 13 2018, @10:33PM (1 child)
If it stops the lobster from squealing that's all you need from the restaurant, right?
Have you reduced the lobster's pain, or merely prevented it from squealing?
Most people do not scream from a stun gun shock (because they are incapacitated) - but they report it to be very painful.
Still, you can buy them on Amazon beginning under $10. Why? Because they are said to be non lethal.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Immerman on Sunday January 14 2018, @05:03AM
Most people don't get a stun-gun shock directly across the brain. And for good reason.
I suspect you don't stop it from squealing, as I suspect that's the same outgassing phenomena as for crab. The point is to disrupt/destroy neural function beforeboiling them alive. Does it actually work? I would hope so, but in a way that's actually a secondary concern. Once you've established that they should get a merciful death, then if it's shown that the specific method used doesn't actually grant one, then you can change the method. Better a misguided attempt at compassion than a ruthless disregard for suffering - mistakes can be corrected.