FOXSYLVANIA

 – – In Gloucester, Mass. on August 3rd (Wheel Turning Day),  a group of thirty Tibetan Buddhists bought 534 live lobsters from a seafood wholesaler, clipped the bands binding their claws, and then released them back into the Atlantic from a whale-watching vessel, saving them at least temporarily from the boiling pot.   Among those setting the lobsters free was a chef who no longer cooks live shellfish.  The Buddhists typically liberate masses of the expensive seafood a couple of times each year.

While the Buddhists recognize that the lobsters may be re-captured, it is felt that by the action, the lobsters have had a longer life, even if only by an hour.  Lobsters to the Buddhist are viewed equally with other life forms, with their happiness and suffering  just as important to them as it would be to higher life forms. 

And for the fishermen paid for their labors, it’s a win-win proposition…I dunno what the lobsters think about being captured and then released, but they may perceive it as a near-death experience…