Do lobsters feel pain when they are boiled alive?

Question

If so, how long do they suffer? Is ther a more humane way of cooking them without tainting the meat?

Answer 1

yes they do. studies show that fish and other sea creatures experience pain much like a dog or cat would if they were boiled alive. there is no correlation between brain size and pain. large brain or small - it still hurts.

Answer 2

How to kill a lobster
So, do you begin cooking with a live lobster or a dead one? Certainly it should still be alive within a matter of minutes prior to cooking. While plunging the live lobster into the pot will surely be fatal, the thrashing tail is likely to cause burns from the boiling water or at least a mess. From a scientific standpoint, the muscles toughen with the shock of hitting the boiling water, which means more chewing for the diner. If you go for the plunge method, put the lobster in head-first which should kill it pretty much instantly.

Some cooks are concerned about humanity issues of cooking a live lobster. In fact, research indicates the lobster has no central nervous system or cerebral cortex to register stimuli, thus mostly likely can feel no pain. Killing the lobster just before cooking is the preferred method. There are several ways to accomplish this. Putting the lobster in the freezer an hour before cooking will do the trick. Quicker yet is to plunge the tip of a sharp knife straight down right behind the lobster's eyes.

For those who do not wish to wrestle with a thrashing lobster to cut the spinal cord, place the lobster in a large pot in the sink. Begin filling with cold tap water and gradually increase the heat factor of the tap water until it is hot. This will desensitize the creature so you can cut the cord and put it into the pot or cut it in half for further cookin

Answer 3

Yeah, they feel excruciating pain. It depends on the lobster and the temperature to determine how long they suffer. I don't think there is a more humane way to cook a lobster without tainting the meat. You could keep them away from the water until they pass, but I am not sure if that is more humane.

Answer 4

Do Lobsters Feel Pain

Answer 5

Yes. Pain is a trait that developed within the animal kingdom before the species of today evolved into what they are. I imagine that it would hurt about as much as it would if a person were boiled alive, although the perception of pain is probably slightly different from one species to the next. A more humane way of killing them would be to bust the skull and destroy the brain before boiling them. I believe that this is how cows are slaughtered (a sharp, blunt blade-like machine quickly splits their forehead open). Gee, what a pleasant subject! Guess I won't be eating lobster for a while.

Answer 6

It is the proper way to cook a whole lobster. I had thought they would feel a pain too. If they do there are a lot of restaurants guilty of cruelty to wildlife. I have thought about your question myself. When we buy lobster we buy the tails, I am sure they are cut off while still living too. I know we are cruel to the aqautic life we eat. Like cutting open a fish while it is living to clean it.

Answer 7

yes it hurts for them most likely and it takes about 6 seconds for them to be cooked i believe if the water is really hot. the only way to make it somewhat humane would be to kill the lobster first like cut it or sumthin lol... the pain would probably be a lot faster than boiling. and to tell you the truth i'm not sure if it even hurts them to be cut in half because it doesn't hurt fish... maybe lobsters are the same way

Answer 8

Yes they suffer until they die. There is no other way of cooking live lobster that I know of. You could just buy the tails fresh or frozen if this is too much for you to bear.

Answer 9

What a crazy question! No lobster has lived long enough to tell us, Silly!
Unless there's ' life after death' there's no brain activity after the first 1/4 second.
By the way, their lil' brains are about the size of a small piece of crushed ice!

Answer 10

some people say lobsters *scream* when you put them in boiling water. if they have a central nervous system, then yes they feel pain, but only until they die. i would guess a few seconds at most.