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#1 greenie

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Posted 16 June 2006 - 08:35 AM

[

Where are we going next? Men stop breathing to avoid inhumane treatment of bacterias?? Little miss Muffet imprisoned for killing a spider?

]

Whole Foods bans sale of live lobsters

By LIZ AUSTIN, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 15, 7:55 PM ET

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.

But other scientists and seafood industry officials said Thursday that lobsters have such primitive insect-like nervous systems they don't even have brains and can't experience pain the way animals and humans do.

For example, lobsters can shed a claw that's stuck between two rocks and move on like nothing happened, said Diane Cowan, a marine biologist who studies lobster behavior in Maine.

"They certainly have a nervous system and respond to external stimuli, but whether you can call it pain I don't know," Cowan said.

About 183 million pounds of lobster are caught each year in the United States and Canada, and about 25 percent of that is sold live, according to the Lobster Institute at the University of Maine.

"People who want lobster will have lobster," said Bill Adler, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association. "If this particular chain does not want to serve it, people will go elsewhere."

From now on, Whole Foods will only sell frozen raw and cooked lobster products at its more than 180 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, said Margaret Wittenberg, vice president of quality standards. And the chain will only deal with suppliers meeting their standards for humane treatment, handling and processing.

Whole Foods leaders will reconsider the decision if they see evidence that it's possible to ensure lobsters and crabs are treated humanely throughout the supply chain, she said.


It is not the doing that is difficult, but the knowing


It's the illiquidity, stupid !

#2 maineman

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Posted 16 June 2006 - 09:49 AM

I do feel sorry for them, but sitting out on a dock, overlooking the bay, with the rocky coast of Maine, seagulls, lobster boats, and sailboats in the distance, gnawing on fresh boiled lobster and corn with a "cold one" is as close to paradise as you can get. As a matter of fact I believe that's how I'm going to spend my weekend! maineman
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#3 TTHQ Staff

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Posted 16 June 2006 - 09:57 AM

"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.


And IF they were humans, it would be murder.
And IF they were vegetables it would be gardening.
And IF they were trees it would be logging.
And IF they were bacteria it would be disinfecting.

But they're not.

They're arthropods. Just like arachnids (spiders) and centipedes.
They're big bugs.
And they're really tasty.

(The Miss Muffet analogy is closer than your thought, greenie.)

Yeah, that was good for a laugh. Thanks.

#4 muppet

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Posted 16 June 2006 - 10:08 AM

I enjoy the taste of lobster .... and killing them quickly, on the spot, seems like just the natural order of things ... prey and food and all that. But I think we humans need to be more aware of what we're doing to other animals ... just because we are smarter and bigger and stronger and sometimes greedier and more thoughtless. It's important to consider how much pain we are causing .... and suffering, over TIME. A vegetable is one thing, a tree is one thing, but a living, moving, swimming animal, with a sensitive nervous system is another. I'm glad Whole foods has taken a small step in the right direction. But, that is only my view. Muppet

#5 mss

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Posted 16 June 2006 - 10:24 AM

From now on, Whole Foods will only sell frozen raw and cooked lobster products at its more than 180 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, said Margaret Wittenberg, vice president of quality standards. And the chain will only deal with suppliers meeting their standards for humane treatment, handling and processing.


:blink: Lets see now, cheaper to transport, cheaper to store, smaller space required, an equal store energy use, off sets space, water, feeding etc.
Hmmmmmmm --humane :lol: Picked up activests customers.
Suppliers standards, "get them here dead, fresh frozzen and cheap". :P

Anyone see MARKETING PLOY??
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#6 OEXCHAOS

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Posted 16 June 2006 - 10:33 AM

I gotta say, they're bugs. Keeping them cold and unstressed keeps them tasting good. Thus, I'm all for it. If a vendor can't properly take care of the food that they sell us, then they shouldn't sell it. Why? because it's willfully wasteful and, well, gross. Unnecessarily being cruel to any critter, however, is --IMNSHO-- more damaging to the individual being cruel. It does psychic damage.

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#7 TTHQ Staff

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Posted 16 June 2006 - 10:53 AM

A vegetable is one thing, a tree is one thing, but a living, moving, swimming animal, with
a sensitive nervous system is another.
Muppet


It's a darn good thing then that they don't have a sensitive nervous system. :)

Seriously, I just wonder where Whole Foods is going to draw the line... those PETA folks can turn on you on a dime. Who knows, now that they have their foot in the door, what PETA will expect Whole Foods to do next? Stop their employees from wearing shoes? Stop selling fresh fish? Nothing but free-range eggs? No veal?

I think Whole Foods may have gained a few customers here in the short-term, but I feel that they will ultimately pay the price for not bucking under to the future demands...and there WILL be some. Will PETA then boycott when the next demands aren't met? :unsure:

Disclaimer: I used to do volunteer work for PETA while I lived in NY.

#8 maineman

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Posted 16 June 2006 - 11:15 AM

Up here in Maine we've championed the fight against Rutabaga Hunting. We felt that Rutabagas are gentle creatures and wild rutabagas have been known to mate for life, lie around peacefully, and if you listen quietly at night you can sometimes here the soft sounds of the mother rutabagas serenading their young. We are seriously opposed to the wild rutabaga hunt.
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#9 sluzbenik1

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Posted 16 June 2006 - 11:31 AM

Unfortunately this is just a spectaacle, but like everything else in politics, the spectacle draws more attention than the real issues - like global warming.

#10 mss

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Posted 16 June 2006 - 11:42 AM

........................... the real issues - like global warming.


Question, who's SUV caused the ice to melt at the end of the ice age.???

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WOMEN & CATS WILL DO AS THEY PLEASE, AND MEN & DOGS SHOULD GET USED TO THE IDEA.
A DOG ALWAYS OFFERS UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. CATS HAVE TO THINK ABOUT IT!!