Makro: A worker tells our investigator to put live lobsters into boiling water to cook them
Makro are selling lobsters to be taken home and often boiled alive
Viva! and Animal Aid have joined forces to try and persuade Makro to end the sale of live animals at the their stores across the UK.
Currently live lobsters and crabs are being sold to whoever wants them; with Makro having no control over how they are killed. Once home most are boiled or hacked apart with knives whilst still alive. It can be a prolonged and excruciating death.
All animals killed for meat will suffer, but selling live animals promotes even greater suffering.
Please contact Makro and politely ask them to stop.
Suggested email below – or even better write your own.
“Dear Makro
I was horrified to hear that you are now selling live lobsters and crabs in your stores.
I was even more disturbed to hear that your staff are telling potential customers to either boil the animals alive or look up on the internet how to kill them. Whilst all slaughter will involve cruelty, slaughter at home has the potential to cause even greater suffering. To abandon these animals to a random fate is a complete dereliction of your responsibilities as a retailer.
It is a myth that crabs and lobsters do not feel pain. Crabs take four to five minutes to die in boiling water, while lobsters can take three or more minutes. Lobsters’ tails are often observed flapping around as they try to escape the boiling water and they only die only when their core temperature reaches 34C. Crabs are sometimes placed in fresh water to 'drown' for up to eight hours, as they will often shed their claws and legs as a defence mechanism in boiling water.
Another method of killing lobsters down the middle with a sharp knife is an inexact way of killing them and because of the animal’s physiology is unlikely to cause a quick and immediate death.
I am extremely disappointed that Makro are essentially washing their hands of the welfare of these animals as soon as money is in the till. Please stop the sale of live animals immediately at all of your stores.
Yours faithfully
[your contact details]”
Note: with reference to crabs 'drowning' this means placing salt water animals in fresh water - which effectively cause slow suffocation and eventual death.
Please also remember there is no such thing as humane slaughter. The best way to end the suffering of animals is to not eat them. Viva! can provide help to go veggie and vegan and have lots of free cruelty-free recipes to get you started.
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