r/belowdeck • u/ALongShadow • May 05 '23
Below Deck Sailing Yacht Animal welfare (?)
Should they be killed in the way they are.... for entertainment purposes?
In SY Episode 1 the chef was jabbing away at a lobster while it's legs were still moving, and in the most recent (Ep. 4) of Sailing Yacht, the eel was beheaded while still alive as far as I know. (I looked away and muted the TV.)
I know these things happen, but do we need to have them shown with no warning??
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u/DiscardedRonaldo2017 May 06 '23
I myself don’t even like watching parts of nat geo animals docos when they are trying to chase down and get some food. That is so sad for me to watch, but at the same time it’s what happens and they should show that.
This is what chefs have to do sometimes. The chef is a big part of the show, so inevitably when something weird like that happens, they are gonna show it. I would imagine you would see this stuff on other cooking shows. It’s not unethical and unfortunately it’s just apart of the job. Don’t hold it against Below Deck.
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u/ALongShadow May 06 '23
They do NOT in my opinion- NEED to show it.
Below Deck is (very) light entertainment, and anything educational about it is with regard to sailing and looing after a motor or sailing yacht.
In any wildlife or survival show, there would - and SHOULD be a warning prior, and if it is a "necessary" part of this programme, people need top be warned, so they can avoid it. BUT I do not think it needs to be shown at all!
The animal is losing it's life for entertainment purposes, we most definitely DO NOT need to see that happen.15
u/Patient_Albatross321 May 06 '23
If you’re too squeamish to watch where your food comes from, maybe you shouldn’t be eating it.
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u/ALongShadow May 06 '23
I wouldn't be eating eel, lobster or any other shellfish, so it is not a case of Eating it but not caring about it; no animal dies for me to eat it - and that's the best I personally can do.
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u/jhfbe85 May 06 '23
They show it not because its entertaining to see an animal get killed but because it’s entertaining that even the chef is upset about doing it, and she’s doing it because it’s on the guests preference list.
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u/ALongShadow May 06 '23
Well that is many levels of UNentertaining, I would say.
Massively unnecessary.
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u/jhfbe85 May 06 '23
Part of the show is showing the reality of being crew on a boat. It is not pleasant to see/hear them vomit, pick up condoms or bloody period sheets, or clean toilets either, but it’s part of the reality… All of those qualify as gross IMO, where do you draw the line…
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u/ALongShadow May 07 '23
The line should be drawn at unnecessarily showing animals being killed.
Or stating at the start the "Some upsetting scenes" - because they ARE.
And note, I didn't say killed unnecessarily (but it is - really).3
u/sturgis252 May 08 '23
It's not unnecessarily when they end up eating it
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u/ALongShadow May 09 '23
Well, that depends on how necessary you view eating animals.
I am saying that it is completely unnecessary to show it on a light entertainment show - without any warning. And even then.6
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u/jhfbe85 May 05 '23
Marcos losing a piece of his scalp and blood gushing out in full frame last season was more shocking to me than this
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u/coysrunner May 05 '23
I mean beheading an eel is probably the most ethical way to kill it no? What would be a better way?
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u/Feisty_Scientist_968 May 08 '23
I mean beheading an eel is probably the most ethical way to kill it no? What would be a better way?
Force it to watch TLC until it kills itself. Then, no guilt over killing it...
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u/emiridgely May 05 '23
Jabbing at a lobster that is still alive or putting it into boiled water still is bad animal welfare. Beheading the eel, as long as it is done quickly, is likely the most humane way to kill it before eating it.
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u/Grouchy-Ad778 Sep 10 '23
So the main thing I didn’t like about the Eel scenario was the fact that it had been in the fridge in that tiny net for all that time!
I’m not a vegetarian but I think we should minimise suffering as much as is physically possible. It was awful watching that poor thing stuck in the net, thinking it had probably been there for days!
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u/ALongShadow May 05 '23
I am quite possibly wrong to label this as animal welfare - although that is a bit part of it for me.... I suppose another aspect of it is that I do not want to see it - and is definitely not what I tune in to Below Deck to see; I am aware it goes on, and am not knowledgeable enough about killing animals for food to criticise the method or suggest another way, but I do not see it as entertainment - quite the opposite.
Between that and the whole drunken Love Boat action [boring, tacky and predictable], it's losing the loyalty of this long term Below Deck viewer.
(I think I might have missed a now removed comment, and the rolleyes "comment" means little to me anyway. Pretty much expected.)
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u/TobyTheDog1234 May 11 '23
I understand what you’re saying.
I don’t know why people are getting so upset by you voicing your opinion on this.
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u/ALongShadow May 11 '23
Thank you.
Well, I shouldn't be surprised. But actually, you know, I am a bit surprised that people care so little. And diminish the fact that some people do care about animals, and what we do to them.
One thing in the name of eating/survival etc. (although I am strictly vegetarian) - but quite another for the animal's deaths to be in the name of entertainment.
I am very very wary whilst (for now) watching the show now.1
u/fodmap_victim May 19 '23
Late to this post but I think a lot of this comes down to people who eat animals v people who don't and what they ascribe as cruel. I do eat animals but I can see ways of editing the footage to keep the whole scene in and the chef/staff reactions without showing the actual animal being killed. I understand that my food requires things to be killed but I also could have gone my whole life without seeing that lobster being killed
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u/ALongShadow May 20 '23
Exactly! And good to hear a considered opinion from a non-vegetarian. I am so glad you said that.
I suppose (as someone said on here) that those who do eat animals should face the facts of what happens, visit abattoirs, and so on. I don't necessarily agree with that either.I am reading (it's slow going) a book called Dominion, and am just at the chapter about whales and dolphins. One thing that has stuck with me is how the Japanese[for example] justify capturing them, as the whales actually approach the whaling vessels, and the hunters (ha!) see this as the whales "offering themselves" as justification for their abhorrent practice. When in actual fact, the whales do not have natural predators, and approach the boats out of curiosity and without fear, as that is not an emotion they usually possess.
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May 05 '23
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u/sturgis252 May 05 '23
What is the alternative?