Italy: Eatery fined for ‘cruel’ display of lobsters on ice

[Elad]

I'm amused by the sub-headline on this one, "No word on whether cooking and eating them is considered humane," as if we all need to be told by an authority figure what is ok and what isn't, rather than being capable of making our own minds up.

Anyway, props to Italy for continuing to lead the way in animal rights legislation (Rome has outlawed goldfish bowls, and Turin passed a law requiring dog owners to walk their dogs 3 times a day or face a fine).

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12533925/

ROME - An Italian restaurant was fined 688 euros ($855) for displaying live lobsters on ice to attract patrons, in an innovative application of an anti-cruelty law usually affecting household pets.

A court in the northeastern city of Vicenza ruled the display was a form of abuse dooming the crustaceans to a slow death by suffocation.

(more at link)

[shockra]

1. Ugh.

Last week I was reading about a guy who advocates freezing lobsters as a humane way to sedate them before cutting them up. It's a response to David Foster Wallace's essays about the cruelty of boiling them alive.

http://www.secretlifeoflobsters.com/blog/2005/12/how-to-kill-lobster-dedicated-to-david.asp

"What is really sad about David Foster Wallace's essay on lobsters from Gourmet is that he misses the point about lobsters as food. Live lobster is one of the last feasts still harvested in a sustainable fashion directly from nature by individuals, not corporations, and sold absolutely fresh, without processing."