Why are lobsters boiled alive???!?

Question

i dont think its fair to boil them alive :(? im just watching come dine with me and put the live lobster in the freezer for 2 hours, then boiled it for 2 minutes. i know killing all animals is cruel, and i know some animals are killed in inhumane ways for food, but there are other ways, why not just kill them quickly? and deffinately not BOIL them to death?????

Answer 1

fresh foods are often better tasting, and better for you.  fish is one of those foods that it either has to be fresh or frozen.  it doesn't sit well if it isn't either.

Answer 2

You have to boil them that is what makes a lobster red as they let out some hormones ,its not really cruel, and if you put it into a freezer it would be already dead but when you come to boil it the lobster will not be so red. and if you are inviting me to dine with you please give me extra as i love lobster.

Answer 3

The short version.  Lobster goes bad very quickly, a dead lobster is a poison lobster.  If it makes you feel bad to cook them alive, you have two options.  

1.  Split the head with a sharp knife just b4 putting in the boiling water.

2.  Chuck the old boy into the freezer for a few minutes, they pass out or go dormant or something, anyway they quit moving.

Answer 4

I am not sure the reason the lobsters boiled alive..its just cos i don't want to know!, my husband is chef he told me he done it for cooking at the resturant GOD it was so horrible when he was trying to tell me..  

Answer 5

Well, there has to be some way of preparing them to be eaten, but it's exactly the same reason I quit eating lobsters several years ago.

Answer 6

I would always ask the same question as a kid, and my dad told me it was to do with the toxins, like every one else is saying and he said they die just as fast because the water is so hot.

It isn't nice to think about, and it not really fare that people are saying horrible things to you just because you asked a valid question, that we all probably asked at one point in our lives.

Answer 7

It is still the best way, but you need to chill them first so they go dormant first. If you have to process hundreds you haven't got the time to put a knife through the head. (that ruins the look of them at point of sale.

It is also now the more accepted way, in restaurants and in the home, where you only do one or two at a time.

Answer 8

because it tase better, answer my question

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...

Answer 9

Dead lobster meat generates toxins quickly, and it is not safe to eat, but Animal welfare groups have long campaigned against the boiling of live lobsters. Although lobster nervous systems have been well studied, there is no clear answer to the question of whether lobsters feel pain. Lobsters have stress receptors but no identifiable pain receptors. They do not act pained at the loss of a limb or when wounds are inflicted. When a lobster is dropped into a steaming pot, its movements are no different to escape responses in any threatening situation. The nervous system does not seem to be more sophisticated than that of an insect.

When various methods of boiling lobster were tested, putting it straight into boiling water resulted in the shortest time of killing it. Chilling the lobster in the freezer first reduced the time of activity to no more than twenty seconds. For non-vegetarians, this is humane compared to the deaths of many other animals.

Oh and for the record, I think its cruel to load them into those glass tanks where they can't hardly move and they are piled on top of each other.

Answer 10

I agree, but it isnt as bad as it sounds. The water is already boiling when the lobster is put in the pot, so it dies quickly.

Answer 11

thats an inhuman way to kill them. They should be slaughtered in a Kosher/Halal manner. Thats the quicker death and less suffering for the animal. No animal deserves to go through such torture. Regardless if its for food.

Answer 12

I heard they "scream" when you put them in.  I hope it's not painful for them.  But boy are they yummy.  They are basically just oversized cockroaches of the ocean.  Do you think twice when you swat a fly.  Or what about all of the bugs you accidentally step on outside?  If you wre in the wild, do you think a hungry tiger is going to be concerned with the pain you feel as he bites into your jugular veins while you scream and writhe in pain.  That's nature.  That's life.  

Answer 13

When lobsters are in the fridge immediately before being boiled, they are only semi-conscious and fully numb. After ten seconds in boiling water, they are painlessly killed. Okay?! Stuffing them in a pot after being on the counter for an hour is completely different.  

Answer 14

I heard the scream when put in the hot water.

I agree, it should not be done.  It's for the taste, they are best like that.

Lobsters are dirty things to eat anyways.  They are considered the sea roach.  They eat garbage.

The bible says only things with fins and scales are eatable, out of the sea.

Answer 15

I am as conservative as they come, and I happen to agree with you.

If anyone ever calls me a liberal, that is an immediate arrangement for a fistfight - with a date, not some vague mentioning of one.

Answer 16

I myself totally against animal killing for food, i m vegetarian now.

I used to take non-veg like chicken or mutton but once i saw killing of goat i felt so bad..i became vegetarian..i understand what you are saying as i myself have seen boiling of lobster on tv as this is rarely available in my country and i too feel bad for them, appriciate you raised this question!

But you alone can't stop this practise unless more and more people stop eating them.

Answer 17

Because dead lobsters and crabs throw off a toxin and will contaminate the other lobsters and crabs and they will die too and then you can not eat them...

Learned this from Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel

Answer 18

some people believe (rightly or wrongly i dont know for sure) that the lobsters release toxins after they die. But ive seen people kill the lobster first and then cooking them, so obviously it doesnt cause food poisioning.

I just dont really understand how anyone can boil any living creature alive. There are laws in place to protect cows, pigs etc..against this, so i dont know why there isnt legislation to protect all creatures. I think some people just dont have the capacity to empathise with lobsters because they are basically expressionless. Probably if it was 'cuter' to them they wouldnt do it, like you said they wouldnt do it to cats....but humans are shallow.

Answer 19

Lobsters are boiled alive to be sure of their freshness. If a restaurant served a lobster that was already dead, there might be questions as to how long it had been sitting there since it was killed. Eateries don't want questions like that, they might hurt business :/

Answer 20

It sucks. But they are tasty! If it makes you feel better they don't have brains like us. Its more like a tricked out nervous system spread threw out there body. And religious people (save Buddhist) believe they don't have souls. So..eat up!  

Answer 21

Ok that Henry T guy, (2nd answerer) needs to STFU!!!

What is that loser talking about??? the "modern" world?????

Um ok, I guess we as humans should resort to being barbaric towards animals just because they are not humans. Living in this "modern" world, I would think we would have evolved enough that we have the common knowledge to not only be kind and respectful to humans, but to animals as well!!!!! That loser needs to go back to the stone age.

PS- I sometimes love animals much more than humans! Actually most of the time. Animals love you unconditionally and they don't try to hurt you. Well, if they do, they don't know any better, so you can't blame them. And yes, I think it's horrible to boil lobsters alive. It's totally uncalled for! I thought they cut their heads open too! And then boiled them.........It's a sick world we are living in! Hopefully times will change!

Answer 22

By putting them in the freezer, it stuns them, and puts them in a catatonic state. And the water must be a roaring boil. Within a couple of seconds, they're dead. I don't think they'll remember it for long.

Answer 23

If you're going to broil it, you kill it by cutting it down the middle. If you're going to boil it, how would you kill it first? Cutting it open and then boiling it would cause the meat to get soggy and rubbery.

Clams, oysters, crabs... all cooked alive.

As for the quickest possible way; I don't think they live for very long at all once they hit that boiling water.

Answer 24

Putting them in the freezer is humane, it is like putting them to sleep, so they die humanely, but the water is at a rolling boil so do it quickly. Some people say that there is a scream, but that is just air escaping from their shells, it isn't them screaming.

Answer 25

Know of any better way to kill them? I asked one of my relatives about this once. I don't know if there's a better way, but the reasoning is that if you put them in the water and it slowly heats up they get accustomed to the hot water and don't try to get out. Ever seen any of the cartoons where Bugs Bunny is sitting in a pot of hot water and it takes him a while to realize HE's the one cooking? Guess it's the same with lobsters. Sounds like cruel and unusual punishment to me. I think some people really enjoy listening to the lobster hiss while he burns. Wouldn't that prove they feel pain and realize they're boiling? I wouldn't want to be dinner! If they could conceptualize that the next step is to be served on someone's plate and eaten they'd fight like crazy not to be put in the pot.

There was a Ziggy comic strip years ago where Ziggy went into a restaurant for lobster. If I remember correctly the next-to-last box Ziggy says, "I didn't have the heart to eat him." Last box: Ziggy's walking out if the restaurant with his new pet lobster on a leash. That would so be me! I'd do the same thing. That's why I can't go into the pound or any part of a pet store where they keep the furry critters that need to be adopted.

Answer 26

when they die slowly they release something that makes the meat tast bad.  with such a small neurosystem they don't feel pain the way we do.  you can chop of their heads with a big knife...might be a bit quicker.

Answer 27

I'm sure its one of the most humane ways to kill a lobster. Putting it in the freezer sends it to sleep to almost a coma state. So when the boiling comes along the lobster shouldn't feel a thing.

Answer 28

If they've been dead for more than a minute they start going rotten - and you'd get food poisoning!

Answer 29

ok some people are really mean...you're just trying to make a point!

anyway...i understand what you're saying. i don't eat lobster or any seafood for that matter, but i do eat...land animals? lol

that does sound very cruel. first freeze them almost to death, and boil the rest of their lives outta em. i didn't even know that's how lobster is prepared.

and i'd like to know how slowly killing an animal "locks in flavor". doesn't that ruin the flavor since when an animal is afraid it releases enzymes and things that taste bad...or is it those enzymes which make it taste so good?  

Answer 30

i think its because they taste better... im not sure tho, it is animal abuse, but its the circle of life, we do it so we can live

answer mine please ?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 31

GOOD QUESTION!  When I go to Red Lobster it kills me to look at those lobster's with rubber bands around their claws.  I never order lobster and I am seriously considering becoming a vegetarian again.  I was one once before because I was raise Seventh-Day-Adventist and they are mostly vegetarians.