Dick, I'm with you on the live bait.  But the question with insects is that
"pain" is the interpretation by the brain that a nerve signal is indicating
that some part of the body is being harmed.  The human brain clearly
interprets that as pain, but that doesn't mean that an insect does.

For example, imagine that in a few years, you bought the most beautiful
humanoid robot as a servant.  It was wired to scream bloody murder if you
stretched any part of its skin too hard.  But it certainly could not "feel
pain."

As pointed out in some papers on the subject, the male praying mantis
continues to copulate, while his "mate" slowly chews and swallows him.
Other insects continue to feed with no sign of bother while something else
is destroying their body.  A European honey bee doesn't appear to have
second thoughts about ripping its guts out with its stinger (although *Apis
cerana* tries to corkscrew its stinger out without harming itself).

The concept of "pain" is a mental interpretation.  Interesting reading is
on surgery and tooth extraction prior to anesthetics--many patients took it
in stride.

> --
>
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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