Ripcurl Sparks Controversy With Crayfish Clip

Earlier today Ripcurl posted a clip on their Facebook featuring surfer Ry Craike preparing a Crayfish and it has been met with a flurry of negative comments.

The clip, which has since been taken down, featured Craike lifting a live crayfish from a bucket, twisting off its tail and throwing it back into the sea. This process of preparation has been dubbed excessively cruel by some viewers, with one comment stating:

Sorry RipCurl, but that’s really fucked up. I also like to go fishing, but please with respect to the creature you are after.

‘Sorry RipCurl, but that’s really fucked up. I also like to go fishing, but please with respect to the creature you are after. If you have to kill your prey, kill it with respect and not like that in the video. That’s just cruel. Next time show us a “cool” video of shark finning…As a company “of the ocean” you should respect its fauna …'(sic)

However others were quick to accuse the angry commenters of over reacting, with one replying ‘Its a crustacean man… a sea bug…. an edible sea bug….. I see no cruelty here jus good eating and good times….. im sorry bout your feelings son…'(sic)

Whether non-vertebrates and crustaceans actually feel pain is still very much up for debate amongst the scientific community. Descartes reckoned that all non-human animals were merely ‘automata’ and unable to feel anything, but things have moved on a little since then.

A researcher named Robert Elwood recently ran some tests on prawns and crabs to see if he could figure it out. He began by inflicting injuries on them in specific places and seeing how they reacted.

What he discovered was that their reaction was not just reflexive as many suspected, but also showed signs (such as nursing the wound) that appeared to constitute ‘a prolonged and complicated behaviour, which clearly involves the central nervous system.’ (You can read much more about the study here if you’re interested)

So where do you sit on this one?  Were they wise to take it down or are they pandering to over sensitive whiners? have your say in the comments.