TO SPARE ANIMALS UNNECESSARY PAIN.
Crabs and Lobsters (R.S.P.C.A.).—People are sometimes
guilty unthinkingly of much cruelty to lobsters and crabs when
preparing them for food, the animals while still alive being put
into saucepans or pots—into animal cold water, and placed on a
fire for the purpose of being boiled; the water gradually rising
in temperature, kills them slowly; this cruel practice is
shocking to any thinking persons, and seems due to the idea that
lobsters and crabs shed their claws if not boiled gradually. To
remove this idea, it is best for the purchaser to offer double
payment for a supply of shell-fish prepared (see following
directions) in the proper way, as a test; then they see, and are
convinced.
Crabs (R.S.P.C.A.).—Crabs should be “pithed” before being
placed in the saucepan. This is done by inserting a stiletto in the
animal’s brain, as shown in our engraving, either from above
perpendicularly (1), or from the side of the shell, horizontally (2).
This should be done quickly, and the stiletto should be wriggled
about, the object being not only to stun the animal, but to
destroy the brain matter, and by actual death prevent sensibility
returning. If the insertion be made as shown by mark 1, the
little crown lap, marked 3, should first of all be drawn back.