Octopus – Don’t beat it, don’t eat it!
There’s been quite the furor recently after a diver was seen last year punching an 80 pound Giant Pacific Octopus at Alki Cove 2 he caught in order to subdue it. He said he wanted to capture it and take it home, “to draw it for this art project, and eat it for meat.” Outrage followed and has continued for the past year.
Part of his response is in essence that the octopus was sort of free range, and that a factory farmed octopus would suffer more, saying “He suffered, of course, at the end but not nearly to the extent of factory farming.” This reminds us of the dodge often employed by some consumers of more traditionally eaten free-range meats: “there’s worse.” While there may or may not be worse, there’s definitely better, much better. Don’t eat meat or fish all!