'Grab-A-Crab' machines slammed by Animal Rights Groups in Singapore

A lot of restaurants in Singapore have been slammed by Animal rights groups for promoting grab-a-crab arcade styled games that let people catch their meal before they could eat it as a dish. The much-criticized game machines were seen at the House of Seafood and Jurong restaurants. The machines were criticized for causing harm and suffering to the crabs before they were killed.

A post slamming the grab-a-crab game

SPCA(Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) Singapore, posted on their Facebook handle that stated "Say no to live crab claw machine"

In the post, the SPCA stated that the much-criticized actions of both the restaurants were bought to their notice and they were made aware that these so-called games had objects along with living crabs were placed in the machines for the diners to grab the crabs for their meal. The society further added that these games caused harm to these defenceless animals and encouraged people to consider animals nothing more than an object to play in today's time.

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They also said that none of the people of their society took part in these kinds of activities and have informed the AVS( Animal & Veterinary Service) to take note of this and completely shut it down.

An apology by the CEO of House of Seafood

In the wake of intense criticism, the CEO of House of Seafood, Francis Ng, issued an apology. He started his note by apologizing to the animal rights activists and said that they never had the intention of using crabs as toys. The CEO stated that they saw a lot of children at the Punggol Settlement and wanted to educate them about marine life and encourage them to take the crabs back to the ocean.

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Francis said that his team had taken up one year to design the machine in order to ensure the safety of the crabs and not harm them in any way. The claws of the 'game' machine were fitted with claws in order to ensure that the claws did not injure the crabs.

Francis said that the machine was cleaned every single day, which allowed the crabs to live in a good and clean environment. 
Ng said that after the criticism they had faced, the restaurant had put a temporary stop to the grab-a-crab machine. The CEO once again apologized for the outrage that they had caused and said that the House of Seafood hoped to serve their customers in a better way every time and thanked everyone for their reviews.

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