I'd say freezing is most defintly not humane. I think it is a common answer but use some logic. Cold-blooded animals have to regulate their body tempatures. Unlike mammels who body takes care of it for them. So they have to be more sensitive to heat/cold. They need their bodies to be a certian temp when they feel that the temp isn't right they must move to a different location. I know people don't think of fish this way but snakes and lizards are cold-blooded too and we all know a snake will go from the shade to sun if it gets too cold and vica versa. Fish behave in the same mannor. As well as a saltwater enthusiast I'm a fisherman (I eat my fish I don't catch and release please don't flame PM me if you have issue with fishermen and I'll explain my reasoning behind it) I know being a fishermen if its hot out like now I'm better off fishing deep. Why? The fish know they are hot and they go deeper to cool themselves off. So freezing I would say while easiest on the human is not on the fish. Mammals shiver to create heat when we get cold the fish probably has everything in it telling it it needs to find more warmth. Sounds horrible to me. Plus I would venture that they probably sufficate before they freeze so you might as well just throw it out of the tank. While the crushing it with tire/rolling pin sounds unpleasant as long as you started at the head you would crush its brain and that would end it right there. The clove oil sounds reasonable too. As long as the fish dies quickly I would assume it would be like a person walking in to a room filled with carbon monoxide they would die and not realize it. Electricution and or cooking is defintly out of the question. So in my humble opion put freezing at the bottom and if you can handle it crushing at the top or maybe clove oil.
what is the most humane way to kill a fish
- Thread starter Japheth
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Decapitation.
All higher vertebrates need the brain in order to process painful stimuli.
Freezing is the method of choice for people using fish for experimental purposes...it is the only guaranteed way of killing a fish without dismembering or deforming the fishs tissues. Also, it is the best way to kill them without introducing foreign chemicals to their body which may affects laboratory studies, depending on what you are doing with the animal.
So...freezing isnt the most humane method at all...it is simply the best way to kill a fish that needs to remain intact.
Decapitation is the fastest and most humane way of euthanasia for any higher vertebrate.
All higher vertebrates need the brain in order to process painful stimuli.
Freezing is the method of choice for people using fish for experimental purposes...it is the only guaranteed way of killing a fish without dismembering or deforming the fishs tissues. Also, it is the best way to kill them without introducing foreign chemicals to their body which may affects laboratory studies, depending on what you are doing with the animal.
So...freezing isnt the most humane method at all...it is simply the best way to kill a fish that needs to remain intact.
Decapitation is the fastest and most humane way of euthanasia for any higher vertebrate.
deedo
New member
Nuhtty said:
I have to disagree. Decapitation is no longer a sanctioned method of execution because the brain is the organ that processes painfull stimuli. It can do this fine without a body untill it runs out of oxygen. This can take several minutes (in a human at least.)
The following is conjecture:
A severed arm can cause pain for the rest of the amputees life due to severed root ganglia firing away. The brain of a decapatee will be receiving massive signals from the clusters of severed ganglia. Amputees report an sensations from intesnse burning to itching in the affected limb, a decapatee will be likely to feel this over his/her whole body.
I guess the bottom line is that while the body needs the brain to process painfull stimuli the brain does not need the body to generate it. A decapitated animal will be in intense pain untill the brain suffocates. I don't think anyone can tell us for sure how long this takes in a fish.
deedo
While I agree with your assessment that the brain can still process information without a body I must say that the brain quickly loses the ability to function after only a few seconds without oxygen.
This is evident in medical patients who quickly lose consciousness after short periods of oxygen deprivation either by suffocation or exsanguination.
Consciousness is a lower brainstem function (as is pain perception) so therefore as the ability to maintain consciousness is lost, so is the ability to percieve pain.
The only way that a decapitated person (or fish) would perceive pain for an extended period of time is if vascular structures were somehow left intact.
While I agree with your assessment that the brain can still process information without a body I must say that the brain quickly loses the ability to function after only a few seconds without oxygen.
This is evident in medical patients who quickly lose consciousness after short periods of oxygen deprivation either by suffocation or exsanguination.
Consciousness is a lower brainstem function (as is pain perception) so therefore as the ability to maintain consciousness is lost, so is the ability to percieve pain.
The only way that a decapitated person (or fish) would perceive pain for an extended period of time is if vascular structures were somehow left intact.
Runner
Active member
Freezing is new to me, but "icing" in a bowl of water seems to be quite painless. They don't struggle or even try to jump out. Just slowly stop swaying. This method has been advocated in the freshwater world as the most pain-free and considerate method of "offing" your fish.
IMO, since fish are cold blooded, freezing would be a good method of euthanasia. Their metabolism just slows down to a halt. They die before the water gets anywhere close to freezing. Freezing would be horribly painful for warm-blooded animals, but i think rather painless for cold-blooded animals. Just my opinion based on my logic, Not based on any scientific articles or anything.
Matthew A.
New member
That's exactly why a quick stomp used in combination with the sole of heavy boot works best in my opinion. Take away the fishes mechanism that interprets certain nerve impulses as "pain" at the same moment one also disables the fishes neural functions reqired to process those impulses into feedback so they can be analized properly, and "pain" is adverted.
Hockeyben51
New member
I think the quickest way to get it over is to take a bucket of water throw in a block of dry ice and the fish will be numbed and no pain can come to him however you dispose of him.
footclanskates
New member
There's no way I could do the rolling pin, or any other similar method. I know it's got to be easier on the fish, but I wouldn't be able to bring myself to do it. If the fish is just injured (no disease) I usually feed it to my piranhas
Hockeyben51
New member
yes obviously it is much better that the fish be ripped shreads instead of instanlty slapped with mom's rolling pin and instantly die, I think both are crazy ways to kill fish, i prefer that the fish be in less pain than me.
All,
The freezing method is what I generally suggest for home aquarists - EXCEPT with temperate species. Tropical fish will become catatonic long before ice crystals form, temperate fish may hang on right down to 32 degrees.
The "do fish feel pain" issue simply can't be hashed out here - even researchers are split on this question. Saying "yes they do" or "no they don't" is meaningless in this context because it is based solely on personal feelings and bias.
Some people have used Alka-seltzer tablets or CO2 from their carbon dioxide reactors in a closed container - this reportedly has some anesthetic effect as well as euthanizing the fish.
I've heard mixed reviews of clove oil - but haven't used it myself. MS-222 (tricaine methanesulfonate) at 250 ppm is the absolute best method and the only one I'll use for fish euthanasia.
JHemdal
The freezing method is what I generally suggest for home aquarists - EXCEPT with temperate species. Tropical fish will become catatonic long before ice crystals form, temperate fish may hang on right down to 32 degrees.
The "do fish feel pain" issue simply can't be hashed out here - even researchers are split on this question. Saying "yes they do" or "no they don't" is meaningless in this context because it is based solely on personal feelings and bias.
Some people have used Alka-seltzer tablets or CO2 from their carbon dioxide reactors in a closed container - this reportedly has some anesthetic effect as well as euthanizing the fish.
I've heard mixed reviews of clove oil - but haven't used it myself. MS-222 (tricaine methanesulfonate) at 250 ppm is the absolute best method and the only one I'll use for fish euthanasia.
JHemdal
torchstang05
New member
What about putting the fish in a bucket and just leave it outside. The water will cool and they will die a nice death. It is not quick but i heard it is a very good way to kill them. Or just feed them to a huge shark, eel or trigger!!
Hockeyben51
New member
as long as they can be eaten whole, i think its fine.
BrokeColoReefer
Hermit
I think the hammer seems most humane.
CrazyLionfish
New member
This is not a proven fact, but I have read that fish may not feel pain in the same manner as we believe they do. I read this on a thread on this website and the guy said, "90% of fish die within the first days of life in the ocean, there would be no reason for them to feel pain" something along the lines of that. Also, I think the cold water would numb some of the pain as well as if this fact is true, they wouldn't feel hardly any pain at all!
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