To think it’s not ok to kill jellyfish and crabs…

[CockledEel]

So yesterday I was at the beach and a large group of children were bringing jellyfish up the beach and thinking it hilarious when the jellyfish broke up into bits and were flinging the bits around the beach. There were about 4 mums there with them, and didn’t try and stop them.
Today, a different group of kids were killing crabs/pulling the legs off. To which my mum (in her late 70’s) told them to stop. Another group of mums with the kids, had a go at my mum - saying it’s only a crab, and it’s dead already. However I’d heard her kids shouting “let’s kill it”.
Has the world gone mad?? This was the mindset of approx 20 kids in total over the two days, and 8 mums???

That's absolutely disgusting. They'll grow up to be yobs

It was vile behaviour, but the mums didn’t care. And it was two separate groups of kids/mums on different days. Yet exactly the same attitude…

Fingers crossed that they try it tomorrow with one that stings. They won't do it again after that.

Oh that’s awful. YANBU

By the time a jellyfish is deposited on the beach it is usually dead and has had its tentacles ripped off on the rocks and by the waves. They should take care not to be stung though.

Live crabs are a different matter. They deserve to be observed, maybe carefully picked up and gently inspected, then returned to a rock pool. Dead crabs are seagull food. If they want to dismember it then do be it. Their way of talking about it sounds quite Lord of the Flies, but I suspect it was already dead. Again, like jellyfish, crabs very rarely land in a beach alive.

Disgusting. My kids would be interested in seeing the crabs and jelly fish alive, not cruelly torturing the poor things. I told a kid off for wanting to step on a wood lice not along ago. I mean, it's a life.

God that's absolutely vile. Imagine what horrible little thugs their mothers will be dealing with in a few years.

An animals dead body is not a toy. We treat the dead with respect, we don't rip their corpses up and throw them about.

They won’t do it for long once they get stung or pinched.

Btw if lifeguarded beach I would tell the lifeguards to have words.

@Borninabarn32 or more : not dealing with. I think they knew exactly what their kids were doing, but couldn’t be bothered to stop chatting to the other mums, or see any fault in their kids behaviour. And then just made excuses when challenged.

This wasn’t just a one off person though, it was two large groups all thinking the same way.

I agree. But ... if they are going to eat them then I think thats ok and a learning process

No @Maddy70 - it was a group screaming, shouting, wanting to kill the crabs they were collecting and pull the legs off. It was vile. They certainly weren’t going to eat them. It was finding joy in destroying a creature - with - in total - about 8 oblivious adults.

Hence the Lord of the flies comment. But dissection of dead crabs on the beach is a normal activity. It’s amazing to see how their claws work and ponder nature’s design perfection with awe and wonder. You can encourage children to take an interest in natural history and follow it up with a little sand burial or scatter it for the seagulls. Seagulls don’t treat them with respect!

No that’s not ok at all. My (ex) friend would
let her kids do stuff like this to insects etc and I told her it was wrong she found it funny till her eldest killed their new kitten . Absolutely awful

That's absolutely horrible of them

Shitty parenting makes shitty kids. It's awful OP.

Well what ever the mothers are dealing with in a few years will be their own damn fault for allowing their little spirited poppets disgusting cruel behavior to continue. I’m not in the least bit surprised they’re acting the way they are with parents like that.

@Genevieva there was absolutely no interest in natural history going on : it was shared hilarity in pulling legs of a crab and chucking it about.

That would've really upset me too, OP. I used to live by a huge river and some swans used to roost on a slipway with their cygnets. I had to regularly shout at young lads/men who couldn't resist throwing stones at them. I had to threaten to call the police on more than one occasion. I just don't understand what made them want to inflict that suffering? Made me feel quite sick.

I gathered. Horrid. But the crab was almost certainly long dead. Believe me. I live feet from the sea and dog walk along a sandy beach every day. I’ve never seen a live crab except low tide during springs when you can walk out far enough to see starfish or in the rock pools. They are pretty good predators, so usually end up on the beach because they are dead.

@Genevieva

It’s a tidal estuary. So yesterday the jellyfish were being fished out of low water as the tide was coming in. So I suspect not dead.

Today the tide was going out, and the crabs were in pools, under boats, under rocks. “Let’s kill it” suggests to me that they’d seen it moving. Yes, there are some dead crabs. I know seagulls get them, but the seagull kills as necessity : it’s part of the food chain.
To see a child kill an animal for fun and hilarity, for no educational purpose whatsoever - to pull its legs off and throw them, is vile.

That’s horrible. Why would anyone enjoy doing that?

Obviously it’s sickening to do to any living thing but to tiny baby cygnets. They must be tapped and twisted in the head.

I know @MrsSkylerWhite : but it was 20 kids over two days, all with the same attitude. And 8 or more adults who didn’t care.