A 'what would you do?' situation (content warning - animal cruelty)

Amazing, someone manages to bring badgers into a discussion on rats, and blames them for bringing diseases. Never mind poor animal husbandry being the cause of diseases spreading.

As for the rats, I'd have tried to get them outside unharmed then twatted the chef with the biggest pan I could lift. Then would have phoned the RSPCA and reported the chef for animal cruelty.

There was a chef in Betws y Coed who killed a kitten by stamping on it, there are some cruel bastards about.

Yikes!! Sorry if it's a stupid question but did the water actually kill them and did it work quite quickly? Hope so for the rats' sakes.

I definitely would have frozen , or just quickly and quietly scarpered and gone to get an application form from The Body Shop

This. I like rats and mice so never panic if I see them. But they don't belong anywhere near humans unless they are pets.

I saw a mouse scuttle out of a woodpile by the fireplace in a very fancy hotel in London once. I discreetly told a member of staff and they just shrugged as if to say, well, yeah, hotel tea rooms attract mice!

My ds is a chef. Never heard of him scalding live animals..

Put the chefs head in a vat of boiling water see how he liked it.👿

Lobsters?!

We had a mouse indoors. I held out a box and said to it 'come on, do the right thing'. It walked into the box. DH and I were amazed

I have a rodent phobia so I would have hoped that the boiling water killed them and left my job, never to return.

Rats are a no no in a commercial kitchen. If you see several rats walk in you would be totally remiss not to act immediately - it could cause such a loss of time and money left unchecked, not to mention the obvious risk to the health of customers. Rats breed and multiple very quickly. Some posters really need to get a grip. 🙄

I would have gone ballistic at the chef for doing that, and be fired or resign.
Complete bastard.

Can confirm all foods prepped by my ds are already dead....

If I am honest, my immediate reaction wouldve been to assault the chef.

Animal cruelty is the one thing I wouldn't be able to keep my hands still over.

(and boiling water is cruel, regardless of whether or not the creature on the receiving end is considered vermin)

I hope the chef subsequently died in pain.

That’s absolutely barbaric. You wouldn’t do that to a guinea pig so why would you do it to a rat. I’d have grabbed a broom and guided it outside.

Animal lovers say this sort of thing a lot (on the internet) - suggesting that we treat humans the same as animals.

Do you think it's a great retort? Do you think that it makes sense?

When someone puts a dog on a lead, do you think, "We should put the owner on a lead and see if he likes it"

If someone works in an abattoir, do you think they should be bolt gunned and processed, like the cows and sheep who enter the abattoir?

I just don't see the apparent genius in this popular retort.

I would have called the police and RSPCA and reported what he did. Hopefully they would have prosecuted him.

When you put a dog on a harness, it is for its safety, and usually indicates that an activity is about to take place that the dog will enjoy.
As a small human with limited capacity for risk assessment - I was put on reins, as many toddlers my age in the early 80s were so that I was still free to explore the world with both hands, but someone had a grip on me incase I decided to shoot of into traffic.

So yes, I think it makes sense.

Having seen some of the exposes of the abuse that goes on within abattoirs and the videos of men enjoying the torture and fear that they inflict on an animal prior to its death - I have no issue with those men receiving a bolt.

I would have reported to environmental health. Rats in kitchens can close the place down.

I think I get it.

Treating animals differently from humans in some ways is ok. That's obvious, I agree with that.

But, in other cases (which do not seem to be clear cut and will surely vary from person to person) if a human treats an animal in a certain way, people on the internet should type "Let's do that to him and see if he likes it".

It puts anyone dealing with animals on tricky ground though, doesn't it? I mean, if they are treating an animal differently (like lead use, to pick a simple example) one person might walk past and think "that's fine - the owner doesn't need to wear the lead to see if he'd like it" - which obviously he wouldn't.

But then another "dog lover" walks past and says "that's unacceptable in this situation. You must now wear a lead to see if you'd like it". Which, again, obviously he wouldn't - we already know the answer to this question in both cases.

I need to think about this famous internet "dog lover" retort a bit more, as I still don't see the sense or genius in it. It doesn't sound like either the put down of all put downs or a great solution for helping humans with their interactions with animals.

@HorseyMel I see what you're saying.
I think for me the line is deliberate cruelty or humans who derive pleasure from harm or pain.
I genuinely have not a shred of mercy for them.

I think intent is the difference, you can accidentally trip over your dog if it gets under your feet which scares the dog (and you) and you holler OH BLOODY HELL BRIAN! and then check if he's okay, while its not a pleasant experience and one that you can feel guilty about, you never intended or set out to kick your dog, so you dont deserve someone to come and kick you.

But if you DID deliberately intend to kick your dog through malice.. completely different.

There are shades to everything, but I concede that some internet comments can be significantly lacking in nuance or logic.