Still, I was disappointed to find that a large percentage of released crabs die anyway. Can’t find the number, but it’s significant. 1/3rd?
Comment on Blueberry milkshakes
Alabaster_Mango@lemmy.ca 11 months ago
It’s specifically non-fatal:
Bleeding horseshoe crabs to death is not an acceptable practice in the U.S.
The volume of blood taken is actually quite small, as most of the material in the collection jars is anticoagulant.
It may look uncomfortable to us humans, but keep in mind that horseshoe crabs are not human. What’s normal for the spider is chaos for the fly. Granted, it would be kinda weird to be hoisted from your home by a giant ape and forced into a blood drive. It’s done as gently as possible though.
shalafi@lemmy.world 11 months ago
lemmylommy@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Afair estimates put the portion of dead crabs between 10 and 30%. Some might also be unable to reproduce due to the bleeding.
Mercival@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Sadly a lot of the companies harvesting them will just kill and sell them for bait anyways.
Of those that are released, about a third die. Not to say about the decrease in overall fitness, which can lead to them falling prey more easily.
It’s obviously a traumatic experience for the animal in the best case scenario and that is going to reflect on their ability to survive in the wild.
voluble@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Thanks for the link and info.
Not a reply directly to you, but to contrast the dominant view in the thread - what would it matter if even 100% of the crabs died? Sustainability considerations aside - a crab died for my delicious salad, who cares if they die for a life saving vaccine? Who cares if it’s painful and disorienting for the crab, it’s a crab. As humans, why should we prioritize crab life and well-being over our own?
spacecowboy@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
Because we aren’t special and every time we make a stupid decision like that it has disastrous ripple effects.
voluble@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Ripple effects, sure, I’m with you there, sustainability considerations, which I haven’t seen anyone mentioning ITT.
I completely disagree with you about the status of humanity. Is it really your view that the well-being of a crab has equivalent moral status to your own well-being?
SmoothIsFast@citizensgaming.com 11 months ago
I completely disagree with you about the status of humanity.
Why because we happened to evolve to think? Given enough time something else would of if not us. Given we may end up causing our species to go extinct due to careless disregard for our environment and even human life in general. We really are not that special and it would serve us to treat the ecosystems, which enable life on this planet to thrive and evolve, with respect if we want to live long enough too see other stars or at least leave the planet in a decent state for the next species if we all die from pointless wars like humanity seems to love doing regardless of if we treat our environment better.
RubberElectrons@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I don’t like hurting animals. If one believes we really are a special species because of things like our innate curiosity, I think you’ll understand the interesting quest to try to eat without hurting anyone/thing.
Why? Better, why not?
- Consider how difficult “getting off this rock” is with live food onboard. Plants can directly feed humans with limited processing. With some processing, you can make tasty high protein burgers. Admittedly, still not nutritionally the same as beef, but compensable in other ways.
- We’re a concious species (mostly), why not try to avoid hurting our fellow companions in this barren wasteland called space? Who else do we have in the known universe?
I still eat eggs & cheese. Perhaps a day will come where I don’t need those either. I hope you’ll be curious enough to try some alternatives too.
ThunderclapSasquatch@startrek.website 11 months ago
If the crabs die out we lose the blood, from both sides its better to be as sustainable as possible.
angrystego@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I don’t know about spacecowboy, but I do. I still eat crabs, but I don’t think I’m superior to them morally just because I’m more intelligent or something. We’re just animals eating each other.
Gabu@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I’d rather see a dead human than a dead non-human, to be honest… (with the exception of insects, those buggers freak me out).
Kedly@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Because we HAVE to kill a crab to eat it, we shouldnt be killing or harming other animals unless we “need” to. If theres a way to harvest blood without killing the animal, that is the ethically cleanest option. I do think we should prioritize helping our own species over others, but that doesnt mean ignoring the suffering or harm of other species
bstix@feddit.dk 11 months ago
Unfortunately the practice often results in death anyway. 30% die in the process.
It also has unforseen consequences in the food chain, so by all means we should look for alternatives.
Thankfully alternatives already exist .
abraxas@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
Last I read synthetic LAL was nowhere near scaleable. Bleeding Crabs is very expensive.
cashews_best_nut@lemmy.world 11 months ago
By vegan moral logic they shouldn’t be allowed to accept vaccines.
Gabu@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Not taking vaccines is endangering far more people
bstix@feddit.dk 11 months ago
Hmm. Assuming that the production was actually harmless, what’s the difference between wearing a wool sweater made from excess animal production of wool and using a vaccine made from excess animal blood?
Gabu@lemmy.world 11 months ago
No such thing as “excess blood”, brother. That’s why we generally want it to stay inside of our bodies.