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Articles In Test Program, Whole Foods Becomes a Lobster's New Best Friend Published in the NEW YORK TIMES, 6/10/06:
www.nytimes.com/2006/06/10/us/10crabs.html By BRENDA GOODMAN NEW YORK TIMES June 10, 2006 ATLANTA, June 9 — Just like "The Jeffersons," the live lobsters at a
Whole Foods Market here are movin' on up. These, perhaps the classiest of crustaceans, are part of that grocery
chain's test program, which seeks to make the lobsters' trip from sea to
sale more humane. Thus, the ones that wind up at the Whole Foods location in
the well-to-do Virginia Highland neighborhood of Atlanta get their own
separate "lobster condo," a cooler, more hospitable water temperature and a
dimly lit tank away from glass-tapping children. "We wanted to treat them less like merchandise or a curiosity to be shown
to a kid," said Amy Schaefer, a spokeswoman for Whole Foods. "It's not like
buying a dozen eggs." These measures are in place until at least June 15, when managers at the
company's head office in Austin, Tex., have said they will decide whether
such changes go far enough to ensure that lobsters are being treated
compassionately before they are sold. If the managers decide the lobsters
are not treated well enough, Whole Foods has said it will stop selling live
lobsters altogether. A month ago, at the height of the season, the chain pulled live
soft-shell crabs from all its stores amid concerns for their quality of
life; and Kate Lowery, a spokeswoman for Whole Foods, said the store would
soon review the treatment of live mollusks like clams and oysters. The store has not addressed the question of whether it is humane to cook
crustaceans while they are still alive. As might be expected, animal rights groups say it is about time someone
paid attention to the plight of live shellfish, which are routinely starved
before purchase and kept in what activists say are unnatural conditions that
are stressful and cruel. Representatives of the shellfish industry, meanwhile, say they suspect
that Whole Foods' threat to stop selling live seafood because of ethical
concerns is just an excuse for poor sales. "Isn't this ridiculous?" asked Robert K. Pidgeon, director of purchasing
for Inland Seafood, an Atlanta-based distributor of live crabs and lobsters
to restaurants across the Southeast. Lobsters, Mr. Pidgeon pointed out, have the nervous systems of insects
and have dim eyesight that prevents them from seeing much of their
surroundings. They also stop eating naturally for months in the wild when
water temperatures drop, he said. "The overwhelming majority of people I've spoken to think Whole Foods is
just doing this because they can't sell them," Mr. Pidgeon said. "It's not
something that sells well in most grocery stores. It's too easy to lose too
much money too quickly." Mr. Pidgeon said most people prefer to order lobsters and crabs in
restaurants rather than cook them at home, and as a result, live seafood
that sits in grocery stores is often discarded. That is why the Safeway chain just announced that it would stop selling
live lobsters, said Brian G. Dowling, Safeway's vice president of public
affairs. "It's just not a big seller for us," Mr. Dowling said. Publix Super Markets, a grocery chain based in Florida that carries live
lobsters in about half its stores, said it had no plans to stop selling
lobsters or change the way they were treated. "If it wasn't selling well, we'd take them out of our stores," said Maria
Brous, director of media and community relations for Publix. Taking live sea creatures out of stores is exactly what animal rights
groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Humane
Society of the United States wish grocers would do. Both groups had
representatives on the panel that reviewed Whole Foods' compassion standards
for live seafood. "Among foods that are borderline sadistic, live seafood is at the top of
the list," said Bruce G. Friedrich, vice president of international
grass-roots campaigns at PETA, referring to stores' treatment of live food
products. PETA maintains that lobster tanks are inhumane because the lobsters are
starved and often piled on top of one other, when in their natural
environments they are solitary animals. The group also says that shellfish,
despite primitive nervous systems, can feel pain. Robert S. Steneck, a biologist who studies lobster behavior at the
University of Maine's Darling Marine Center in Walpole, said he thought the
discussion over the inner lives of shellfish, or lack thereof, was really
more about a person's comfort level than the lobster's. Lobsters and crabs, like most other invertebrates, Dr. Steneck said, can
move away from harmful stimuli, but there is no evidence to suggest that
they are capable of suffering, which requires an emotional component. "I don't mean to be too flip here," Dr. Steneck said, "but when you're
talking about the whole range of nature, it's not always pretty and it's not
always the way you'd want your golden retriever cared for." But to Leigh-Anne Dennison, 36, of Washington, who once stopped shopping
at a grocery store because she was so appalled by the way it treated live
lobsters, her discomfort is reason enough to push for change. "I've seen them put into a pot on a cooking show or get stuck near an air
pipe in a tank, and it looks like they feel pain to me," Ms. Dennison said.
"They're just trying to live their own lives, just like we are." Fair Use Notice: This document may contain
copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the
copyright owners. We believe that this not-for-profit, educational use on
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