congratulations our crustacean friends do feel pain - i remember when as a child they threw the lobsters in the pot you could hear them scream - it was awful!

Posted by: reed | September 16, 2007 02:23 AM

Turn Heathens into humanitarians.As Hindus and Buddhist believe in Karma and re incarnation,those eating the blessed Crabs maycome back in the next life and be boiled alive or in fact they may be eating one of thier loved ones from previous life,who was a cruel person.Shame on Hindustan,where once an abode of God and Goddess,forbade all killings and the mantra was vegtarian and vegan foods and live and let live.

Posted by: Ravi Pandya | September 16, 2007 04:50 AM

where have all the comments gone???

Posted by: animalfriend | September 16, 2007 04:56 PM

" most never having thought of crabs as individuals who are capable of feeling pain when their legs are torn from their bodies in nets or when they’re thrown into scalding hot water while they are fully conscious. "

Stinks to be a crab and on the lower end of the food chain. I'm sure an octopuss cares if the crab feels pain as it eats it alive.

Posted by: Mars | September 16, 2007 07:07 PM

This is very commendable . Its great to see people taking initiatives for stopping cruelty towards ALL kinds of LIFE.

Posted by: Misha | September 17, 2007 07:05 AM

Mars:

Yes, nature is red in tooth and claw. It sucks to be eaten by a predator, for sure. Pity those poor impalas when the lion strikes, or moose in the grasp of a wolf pack. Thus the circle of life goes on, blah, blah, blah.

But crabs and lobsters are extremely sensitive to water temperature, so scalding them is excruciatingly painful. And before being dumped into the kettle, they are tossed into piles of clawing, fighting others, out of water with no chance to escape - that is surely hell.

So how much suffering should the 6 Billion People on earth inflict on other creatures for the sake of a tasty meal?

Hunting and fishing may have made sense when we were tribal hunter-gatherers. Not any more, though.

Posted by: Steve | September 17, 2007 11:43 AM

With so much hate and violence in this world, why would you like to add more violence by eating animals?

Posted by: Jaclyn | September 17, 2007 12:08 PM

" why would you like to add more violence by eating animals?

How is it "adding" when it has always and will always be so?

"Hunting and fishing may have made sense when we were tribal hunter-gatherers. Not any more, though.

We are still hunter/gatherers and there is no way around it. The only difference is that modern man hunts/gathers in a different location.Instead of the woods you now hunt/gather in a grocery store where you pay others to do your killing for you.Yes, as a vegan,you still must kill.

"Pity those poor impalas when the lion strikes, or moose in the grasp of a wolf pack. "

Why must a person feel pity for the impala or moose? What about the lion and wolves? They are living beings as well.It may be easier to feel pity for the prey but the predator is just as much a part of the way of life.

" i remember when as a child they threw the lobsters in the pot you could hear them scream "

LOL, lobsters don't and can't scream.That sound is air escaping as it is heated.

Posted by: Mars | September 17, 2007 04:06 PM

Mars is correct when he says vegans still must kill animals to survive. Agriculture displaces native habitats and irrigation destroys native waterways. Organic farming displaces even more habitat. Vegans don't pretend your ecological footprint is small. If you thrive on this planet, you displace some other creature, plant, animal or whatever.

Posted by: Christopher Cochran MD | September 17, 2007 04:48 PM

Vegan ecological footprints are much lighter and not as vast as non-human animal-eating humans.

Posted by: Ana | September 17, 2007 05:07 PM

Mars: Umm, guess what? LIONS NEED TO KILL OTHER ANIMALS TO LIVE. We can't force carnivorious animals to eat grass and tofu, so it is only natural that they need to kill flesh-and-blood food to survive. They need high-protien/fat foods to keep their bodies fit for survival in the wild. Humans no longer need bother with "Survival of the fittest" (in the literal sense anyway) but humans don't have to kill for their survival (except for those living in starving countries) and even if some do chose to still be meat-eaters, no animal should have to suffer like the factory farm animals do...

Posted by: Tonka_Rulz | September 17, 2007 05:35 PM

im sorry but, thats just plain stupied! i belive in not killing animals and everything but crabs are sea bugs. If you stand up for the crabs you might as well condem yourself for killing any kind of bug in the past. crabs and fish are meant to be eaten not cows, sheep or goats.... so stand up for them and forget about the crabs ... ok

Posted by: ciara | September 18, 2007 09:23 AM

" but humans don't have to kill for their survival"

Yes humans do need to kill to survive. There is no way around it.Hunters understand that everyone kills and it is a natural cycle of life and death. You are the one with the unnatural thinking.

"Vegan ecological footprints are much lighter and not as vast as non-human animal-eating humans."

Wrong. It takes X number of calories for you to survive and X amount of energy to produce those calories. It takes more vegetables to equal the same number of calories in meat.It would take more land to grow the same amount of calories in vegetable form then meat form.

Posted by: Mars | September 18, 2007 08:45 PM

Mars

Your information is faulty. Also, vegans eat more than just vegetables; they only do not eat flesh. MORE LANDED IS REQUIRED TO RAISE ANIMALS AND IT IS ENVIRONMENTALLY DETRIMENTAL.
You bring up hunters "understand", are you a hunter?? How convenient to have a killer's perspective on LIFE.
Your rationale is way off.

Posted by: Ana | September 19, 2007 09:21 AM

Mars, you are being silly by posting things like that here. We are ANIMAL LOVERS. Ok? I think you might need to open your mind a little bit and stop using our ancestors and evolution as an excuse to keep eating animals. Sure, we evolved through eating animals, that is great, but we have a choice now whether to or not. And the methods that are used for the treatment and slaughter of animals are far beyond acceptable in lots of parts of the world. It is one thing eating an animal to SURVIVE. It is another thing eating one just because you can, especially when you know what conditions that animal had to endure before it's death. (Or maybe you don't want to know). I hope you watched the videos on PETA's website about factory farming, fur farming and how sheep and cattle are treated in the Middle East.... the list is endless. It is all down to one thing. RESPECT!!!! If you respect all living things, then love will conquer all, no matter what the price involved. The average mink costs just $35 to a farmer in the U.S, that is pitiful!! For an animal's life!! In China, they skin cats, dogs, raccoons, you name it, they skin it, for fur on trinkets and toys! It is RIDICULOUS. Thousands of animals are being subject to unneccessary testing every year around the world and for what? There is no reason for humans to slaughter millions of animals every year, for whatever reason or whatever trade. An animal's life should be priceless. It should not be exploited. We are not hunters anymore. We have everything we need. In fact, if we were forced to have to go and live like our ancestors did, as a result of global warming, war, etc. we would be unable to!! We have been too used to modern technology for too long. Even over the last couple of thousand years, our body hair has reduced to practically nothing, because we live domestically and are not physically able to endure the hard conditions our "hunter gatherer" ancestors endured. We now have the intelligence (some of us anyway) and I don't mean you personally Mars, you are entitled to your opinion, but we should have the intelligence, the power and the compassion to treat all living things as we would all like to be treated. Jesus would be spinning in his grave if he saw what is going on nowadays.

Posted by: Laura - Jane | September 19, 2007 09:25 AM

Mars:
your last comment makes me tired - please go back to study the peta files!!!

Posted by: windwalker | September 19, 2007 11:41 AM

I was trying a way to contact PETA about cruelty with prawns and thought that maybe through this post... I got to know that prawn farms, at least a certain big one in Brazil, cut off the females eyes. They say it is to raise their fertility...

DP.-

Posted by: darlingponey | September 19, 2007 03:08 PM

"In fact, if we were forced to have to go and live like our ancestors did, as a result of global warming, war, etc. we would be unable to!! "

Speak for yourself. I would do just fine.

"MORE LANDED IS REQUIRED TO RAISE ANIMALS AND IT IS ENVIRONMENTALLY DETRIMENTAL."

Wrong. More farm land is dedicated to plant production then livestock production and crop farming has caused more harm then livestock farming or have you forgotten about DDT and the other pesticides let alone fertilizers and defoliant.

"and how sheep and cattle are treated in the Middle East..."

Why would I care what they do in the middle east. Then again, I've been to the middle east. Have you?

"We are not hunters anymore."

Yes we are no matter how much you want to believe otherwise.

"especially when you know what conditions that animal had to endure before it's death. (Or maybe you don't want to know). "

I'd hazard I know considerably more on that subject then you.Are you saying that if a cow lived in the Taj Mahal and was waited on every moment of it's life then it would be OK with you to kill and eat it?Or is it more the truth that how the cow is treated doesn't really matter to you and you would oppose killing and eating it no matter what?

Posted by: Mars | September 19, 2007 06:51 PM

Laura-Jane,

The human body has evolved almost zero since the agricultural revolution. Our relative hairlessness didn't happen in the last one thousand years. I want to eat the diet my body evolved to eat, which includes wild game. I am sure my guts are as confused over a donut as they are tofu. My relatively short gut for a primate confers that my body craves animal protein and omega-3 fatty acids. Our African ancestors probably got most of their omega's from organ meat, but my supply of animal brains is running short, so I'll choose salmon, sardines, and venison. I have
raised or been around cattle all my life and I have never seen any cow or pig treated like the livestock treated on "meet your meat." I could just as easily make a video called "look how fun it is to be a cow" because from what I've seen they look pretty happy around here. Maybe you should visit a dairy or beef farm to get first hand information before you make your informed decisions. The Nazi's hoodwinked a whole country into following their garbage with the media....get off this website, get outside, see for yourself. Join our planet.

Posted by: Christopher Cochran MD | September 19, 2007 07:14 PM