Crustaceans on the subway

[Catherine]

Last week someone got on a Toronto subway train and put four live crabs on the seats around him. It got chaotic. It was rush hour and people wanted the seats.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/05...rabby.html


What is noticeable about this incident is the fact that the people were focused on themselves and their needs. 
No one mentioned the fact that these are live crabs. They are an ocean animal and being on the transit, out of water would have been distressing for them.
Why were people not claiming animal abuse. It was the same reaction we have when someone puts packages on the seats.

THESE WERE LIVE ANIMALS! What is the matter with people. Why did no one call animal services and report and animal incident.

Could it be because we all know he bought the crabs in a food market and was going to be cooking them alive later. 
Once we label something as food we no longer care about its welfare and how it is treated.

[Tobi]

How awful to do a thing lke that with live animals. It's stressful enough for a dog to be on a train. The crabs must have been very disturbed.

Yes, sadly the peoples' reactions were probably to do with "oh it's 'just' crabs". Or like you say Catherine, they are looked on as nothing but a food source. It seems that some people are unable to imagine how animals feel about the stupid things some humans do, or are unable to imagine them as sentient beings. I am quite shocked that there appeared to be not one person in the vicinity who cared about these crabs.

[Catherine]

People were angry because the crabs were taking up seats. If there had been lots of empty seats no one would have cared.
People have lost their empathy for living creatures, if they ever had empathy in the first place.

[LPC]

(05-15-2018, 02:10 PM)Catherine Wrote: People were angry because the crabs were taking up seats. If there had been lots of empty seats no one would have cared.
People have lost their empathy for living creatures, if they ever had empathy in the first place.

That sums it up very well.

[Catherine]

There is not a lot of empathy for people on the subway either. 

I have to wonder about the guy who brought the crabs onto the train. What was he trying to do?