big surprise: crabs feel pain

cnn posted this article today about an irish professor at Queens University who ran a study on whether crabs could feel pain. after testing them with electrical shocks, he found not ONLY do they feel pain but they REMEMBER it.

am i the only who isn't surprised?

my question is this: there are still people out there with the medieval notion that animals don't feel pain? really? this is absolutely shocking to me! any child who tortured insects knows they WILL feel pain. anyone who grew up with a dog, cat, hamster, etc. knows these animals retaliate when hurt. since i was a newborn, we've had animals and i can say with confidence that if it lives, it has the capacity to feel pain.

ironically, this afternoon for lunch i went to little saigon. our car was blocked off by a truck when we finished lunch so we decided to step into tai nam and pick up some groceries. i wandered off and came upon tanks filled with crabs and others filled with lobsters. both looked so sorry and miserable, almost as if resigned to having rubber bands around their claws. i watched them for a bit and felt bad for them because they were so listless, as if they knew they had been condemned to be dinner and knew fighting was useless.

i don't have cable but i when i did, i loved to watch iron chef. not only is chairman kaga hilarious but his hair is to die for. and i love how he bites into that apple. i digress.

the secret ingredient in one episode was crab. i watched in horror as two japanese chefs took live crabs and hacked them open to show the camera their still beating hearts. one chef took a crab and chopped off every leg and cut the body in half. the other chef bound the legs and threw it into a red hot wok to cook it alive. i watched in horror. all i could think is that in an alternate reality, the show could be viewed as torture porn.

while i love meat, i am also keenly aware how blessed i am to be able to eat these types of foods. i do not waste meat and i don't eat meat for every meal, it's not how i was raised. but there are times when the reality of my carnivore tendency is like a slap in the face. i will never give up meat, no matter how many vegans and vegetarians tell me it's murder. but i can be responsible and humane about my choices.