Andrew Vik
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Uri:

I think that freezing is certainly less traumatic for cold blooded
creatures than boiling.
They do not fight the cold as we do, but simply lapse into
unconsciousness. I use the same method to kill crabs before I cook them.
I consider throwing a live animal into boiling water unacceptable.

I also find alcohol immersion to be an humane method.
It takes only a few seconds to work.

However, having never been personally subjected to any of these
treatments,
these are just opinions  from observation.

Yours, Andrew

uri bar-zeev wrote:

> Dear Conchlers,
> Reading your letters in regard of shells cleaning,
> I have noticed that most of you strongly recommend as first step,
> on freezing the shell and not on cooking it in boil water.
> Is it because of the smell or the more "humanistic" way of
> killing the poor creature, or are there some other good reasons?
> If yes, does it apply to both Sea shells and Land shells?
> Thanks - uri