Is Australia the only country where live feeding is illegal? I know it's frowned upon by most hobbyists elsewhere, but certainly not illegal.
Also, I would not go so far as to say it's cruel. I have personally always fed f/t, just because I don't like seeing prey suffer. However, I don't think it's cruel to feed live, it's natural (both in the wild and in captivity). Is it cruel that I used to order thousands of crickets each month, live, to feed to various geckos? Why should we limit this to vertebrates? Do invertebrates not suffer?
Another important reason I never fed live is it is a hazard to the herp. I've personally seen a couple snakes, ball pythons, at the vet all chewed up due to unsupervised live feedings. I would not want risk the snake by feeding live. However, many neonates are such finicky feeders that there is no other way to start them, aside from force feeding.
Mostly, I agree with this video. Though to me, cruel is not feeding live. I do not enjoy it, but look out into nature... it happens. These snakes, though outside of the wild, are still "wild animals." I'm not sure I agree with "every predator will scavenge." I do think that most who cannot get their snake to feed on f/t need to ajust their care and set ups rather the switch to live. This is most likely due to keeper error rather then the snake.
Example:
Raised as an American, I would say "it's cruel to kill cats!" I know many Aussies feel differently, but I was very horrified when I first heard stories of people shooting cats in bush. It's just how I was raised, cats are to love not to shoot. I understand they are feral and severely affecting native fauna populations...but to this day I still look at it as killing a domestic cat (cruelty).
^Just like you were raised as it's cruel to feed live. It's different in America and Europe. It's all perspective.
My $.02
