Not To Keep Going On About China and their attitudes to animals but....

In issue 25 of International Lifestyle Magazine we look at some of the work carried out by Animal Asia and today I read this article....

Commuters in China are being offered a supposedly healthy alternative to crisps and chocolates from underground vending machines - hairy crabs that are meant to be eaten while still alive.

The Dazha hairy crab, a popular delicacy in the southeastern province of Jiangsu, is on sale in three different sizes in the province capital of Nanjing.

Prices for the small, medium or large crabs range from the equivalent of £1.50 to £5.00.

The crabs are packed into custom-fitted plastic boxes and chilled to 5C, leaving them sedated but still alive.

If a customer gets a dead one, he or she will get three live ones for free.

"The customers were a bit sceptical at first as they were worried if the crabs were alive or not," Wu Zhendi, general manager of the Twin Lake Crab Co, told reporters.

"But now they see they are alive, they keep coming back.

"We are selling hundreds each day, and more at weekends."

The company now plans to expand its business and is even thinking of trying out sales in Japan, where vending machines are big subway business.

IS IT JUST ME OR IS THIS JUST WRONG ON EVERY LEVEL? Not only are these poor things pulled from the sea, or created in some factory farming system somewhere, they are boxed up and put on a shelf for people to view, buy and eat. Who exactly looks at a poor crab stuck in a piece of plastic and thinks "yummy that looks nice, I think I will take a large live crab and munch on it on the way to work". What is wrong with an apple or a bag or nuts or anything that does not involve eating live animals.

Sorry to pick on China but really, cruel circus tricks, live crabs in vending machines and that is just what we see.

Lynn
xx