is there a humane way to kill crabs before you cook them?

Question

I find it so horrible when we go crabbing and get back and dad just shoves like 14 crabs in a pan of water and turns on the heat... their burning to death. is there a humane way to kill them?

EDIT : I am actually quite shocked at some of the answers condemning the crabs to their horrible fate because they are a lesser animal !! It doesent matter how big its brain is or whether its incapable of higher thought. It is still a living thing and feels pain and panic. Who are we to say it doesent deserve to have a clean death. Feeding us is not the purpose of the crab. And whoever said I was being oversensitive about this?, someone has to be, there is so much cruelty to animals in this world, you people dont seem to grasp the fact that the only real difference between us and animals is that we have a sense of awareness, of conscience. if you drop a crab into hot water the crab struggles, and struggles till it dies. how would that be any different to if you were in a vat of boiling water?, you dont want to die, and you wouldn't consent to die, so you'd struggle.

Thanks to those who actually answered my question

Answer 1

Put them in the freezer for an hour before cooking.

It won't kill them but they become dormant so don't feel the boiling water when they hit it

If that's still not good enough go to http://www.crustastun.com they sell crab/lobster electrical stunning tools

Answer 2

Cut the eyes and mouth off the front of the crab. This kills it instantly. A kitchen shears works best.

Otherwise, your father could be more humane by dropping the live crabs into already boiling water. This would kill them instantly as well. Putting them in water and slowly heating it up is a bit cruel.

Answer 3

You can freeze them first, which (supposedly) kills them painlessly. Also, if you boil the water first, and then just toss fresh crab in, they supposedly die before they even get to feel pain. I agree though that sticking them in a pot and then boiling the water sounds pretty inhumane. But then again, we're talking about something that is more closely related to a cockroach than any other critters that we usually eat. They're not exactly capable of higher thought, but whatever floats your boat.

Good luck, and enjoy those guys! Yumm, crab with fresh drawn butter....

Answer 4

Best way to do it is to drop them in boiling water instead of shoving them in the pot and then turning on the heat. The boiling water will kill them much quicker.

Answer 5

You have to cook them before they are killed. No other way. If you kill them first they will make you sick. Don't put them in the water unless it's hot. Sorry but if you can not take this stay away from crabs.

Answer 6

You think thats bad when i was little my parents used to kill chooks by chopping their head off and letting them run around until they died. I think you may be a little over sensitive about this, they are only crabs they dont know that they are being cooked to death!

Answer 7

Force them to watch The VIEW with Barbara Walters, they will gladly jump into a pot of boiling water.

Answer 8

Yes it's really so sad. They say it's the only way to cook them. After seeing these animals suffer so much, i made a decision not to eat any animal killed that way. Crabs, shrimps, lobsters..They are out of my menu.

Answer 9

yeah....make sure the water is boiling before you put them in.....or you can put them in the freezer for a little while ...that kind of puts them to sleep before you plunge them into boiling water.....

Answer 10

crabs have a brain the size of a granule of sand they will feel shock first then nothing come on we care more about the pain of a fish than we do our fellow humans who cares