Is stealing crabs wrong?

[kuza]

You're only looking at it from one point of view Nate, the one you choose. There are other perspectives, like the police perspective and we can't condone an action that can get someone in legal trouble. While we all agree it sucks that they are taken from the wild, it's not a high priority for the police, however theft of the Pet Stores property is a high priority for them.

People hunt wild animals for food every day. Millions of them, so for most people its not as big of an issue as it is for us with this one particular animal.

[CallaLily]

Painted shells are animal cruelty. The living conditions in the crab cage in my local Petsmart is animal cruelty. The cages they sell are evidence of intended future animal cruelty.

I never said they weren't.

And as for arguing that only the authorities should act, while you're at it be sure to never stop a crime in progress, or get involved if someone is being beaten. Let the authorities handle it.

Again, I never said you shouldn't act. I said you should act within the law.

[Skymall007]

I'm probably going to feel bad for posting this. My opinion is as follows:

Captain Picard once said that "there is no justice in absolutism." So while stealing generally is wrong, there are situations where it is not. Technically when people get their homes raided and animals taken away from them because there was abuse going on, that is still stealing their animals. (In such situations, people including myself, are pro-police coming in and taking those animals but furry animals are often the only ones cared about in such situations).

So in all I would say that morally it is both right and wrong. Logically it would be a bad idea because the consequences to you could be bad. As a result, I wouldn't take the risk as hard as it is to walk away. Like others have said, the best course of action in these kinds of situations is to raise awareness and try to do things the legal way.

I'd be lying if I said I had never thought to do this very same thing.