http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1019_051019_dogs_sharks.html

I've never seen that before, that's for sure.
I can't say anything on its legality, but I can imagine it's banned due to animal rights.

What is different from a dog or cat compared to a worm? Do the lives of innocent worms not count for anything? Is it because they are slimy and not cute enough?

insects dont feel pain ?

Worms don't even have sufficiently advanced enough brains to register the pain or to feel fear or panic. Cats and dogs however do. That is the difference when you hook two live animals up to throw them into the sea.

The article states that it was already illegal but that the government needs to step up on enforcing said law. So it's illegal but I have no idea if they've managed to stop people from doing this or not.

Let's use humans, then.

Yup. That and the fact that they're not advanced enough creatures to feel fear and stuff.

Well, if human was a supercomputer, a cat or a dog would be a netbook, and worms would be digital watches or thermometers

Worms haven't spent thousands of years evolving to become humanities companions and the sole animal that's the most domesticated by humanity.

It's highly time people changed.

It's Africa. Why are you surprised? It's like being surprised that people have been killing each other over stupid [censored] for the past 1000+ years in the Middle East.

I'm pretty sure if you dig deep enough that not only have the savages been using cats and dogs as bait but each other as well

I've always wanted to see a shark up close.

What?
Everything that is alive feels pain.
This is plain sense.
Insects walk into fire all the time.. Seeing as they dont feel pain and all.


Secondly, it annoys me when people place special value on the lives of dogs, cats or horses.
In some nations they eat em, and that is their good right.
I enjoy a horse roast from time to time.
Its delicious.

In related news, don't watch any TV shows about cooking in China... brrr...

They may be able to feel it, but insects don't register it the same way animals do. I don't think "pain" is the right word for what they would feel.

Well yes as a food resource sure, but putting a hook in a live dog is ablsolutely barbaric.
Eating it is different, well if the dog was dead it would be another story, but when it's alive...

Source?

To me that sounds like typical doublethink designed to give humans an air of superiority.
Not too long ago they said the same thing about coloured people, you know.
Savages like that couldnt possibly experience pain and discomfort the way real humans do.
This seems to come from the same sentiment, an excuse to not feel guilty.


Agreed, that is not something I would ever do or allow to happen around me.
But other cultures have other morals and Ive come to accept that sometimes they just dont feel the same sentiment towards animals.
Its not inherently wrong of them, its a different point of view.
I would certainly like it if people the world over respected animal suffering better, but I think that might take some time.

That's pretty racist... Aside from anything else, there are plenty of European countries (and the US) where practices that are pretty widely regarded as unacceptably cruel to animals still go on.

Anyway, this story is seven years old, so aside from actually going to Réunion and finding out for yourself I imagine you're gonna have trouble finding more information on it.

Yeah, horsies taste great. It doesn't really bother me that we kill stuff to eat it, but putting a live dog on a hook to catch a shark is a bit inhumane. They could've killed it first at least, in an humane way.

I didn't have a specific source in mind, but: http://insects.about.com/od/insects101/f/Do-Insects-Feel-Pain.htm

That sums up what I'm trying to say pretty well.

EDIT: And for the record, I'd say humans do have some degree of superiority. I'm all for humane treatment of life, but you can't possibly be saying that insects should have the same rights humans do.

Worms? Do Sharks even .. eat worms? Are they to small?

That's just silly. We base biology on scientific research where people have done tests and created theories based on those tests. It has been proven that while worms know that they are being damaged they do not feel pain in the same way as a human or a more advanced animal does due to how their nerves function and unlike more advanced animals they do not feel any emotional impact from being damaged.

Racism was based on dogma with no research behind it but simple blind hatred. Totally different.

A shark will try to eat just about anything that fits in its mouth.

Ah, that is very interesting, thanks

Nah, I dont mean that insects should be treated like humans.
I do however think that humans sometimes have a tendency to go a bit overboard in the human-centric thinking.

"Perhaps the clearest evidence that insects do not feel pain is found in behavioral observations. How do insects respond to injury? An insect with a damaged foot doesn't limp. Insects with crushed abdomens continue to feed and mate. Caterpillars still eat and move about their host plant, even with parasites consuming their bodies. Even a locust being devoured by a praying mantid will behave normally, feeding right up until the moment of death."

Very interesting. Id say this goes a long way towards what you said, that they indeed do not experience pain in the same manner as higher organisms.

It's natural than an intelligent species will try to preserve themselves.
The ironic thing is that we're the only species capable of destroying ourselves.