As if it were a more “humane” ending if your Maine lobster were entagled in the tenticles of an Octopus with its parrot-like beak tearing it to shreds. All without the benefit of clarified butter and garlic sauce!
AUSTIN, Texas – Customers craving fresh crustaceans will have to look beyond Whole Foods Market Inc. after the natural-foods grocery chain decided Thursday to stop selling live lobsters and crabs on the grounds that it’s inhumane.
The Austin-based grocer spent seven months studying the sale of live lobsters from ship to supermarket aisle, trying to determine whether the creatures suffer along the way.
In some stores, they experimented with “lobster condos,” filling tanks with stacks of large pipes the critters can crawl inside. And they moved the tanks behind seafood counters and away from children’s tapping fingers.
Ultimately, Whole Foods management decided to immediately stop selling live lobsters and soft-shell crabs, saying they could not ensure the creatures are treated with respect and compassion.
“We place as much emphasis on the importance of humane treatment and quality of life for all animals as we do on the expectations for quality and flavor,” John Mackey, Whole Foods’ co-founder and chief executive, said in a statement.
Animal rights activities were thrilled with the decision, not just because of the way lobsters are harvested, shipped and stored but because of the fate that awaits many of them — being dropped alive into a pot of boiling water.
“The ways that lobsters are treated would warrant felony cruelty to animals charges if they were dogs or cats,” said Bruce Friedrich, a spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
In making its decision, Whole Foods pointed to a November report from the European Food Safety Authority Animal Health and Welfare panel that it said concluded all decapod crustaceans, including lobsters and crabs, appear to have some degree of awareness, feel pain and can learn.
Well I guess I can cross Whole Foods of my list of favorite places to purchase 10 dollar boxes of “organic” oatmeal.
Wonder when the Food Police will intervene in the ultimate fate of Bi-valves. After all it must scare the bejeeses out of oysters and clams to have a sharp knife shoved between their shells. In the “bi-valve world” I bet a knife is classified as a Weapon of Mass Dissection (WMD)! Not to mention it must hurt like hell for an oyster to have his ass scraped off that pearly white shell.
What about the very large market for yogurt with active cultures? “Active” equates to live in my book. Where is PETA when you need them?
Oh wait, they’re over here with axe in hand! Thankfully a judge is keeping some of them in place.
UPDATE: Now this is a form of protest PETA should adopt more often. Sarah Harley, a member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, sat inside a cage along the highway, her nearly nude body painted like a tiger in orange and black stripes.
Her message? “Wild animals don’t belong behind bars.
”Harley, from Virginia Beach, Va., said it was the fifth time she’s protested this way.
“We have done this in other cities, and the reaction has been a positive one,” she said. “I am simply showing people what 90 percent of animals go through every day. Some are caged in smaller cages than this.”
And of course the “positive reaction” just HAD to be because of agreement with her cause and not for the fact she had her naked ass hanging out for all to see! (DISCLAIMER: Unless she looked like a cross between Oprah and Tammy Faye Baker)
