Lobsters are sentient beings, let’s not forget
Lobsters, along with caviar, have always served as the epitome of upper-class dining. The idea of plucking a lobster from a tank and boiling it alive has been common practice in cookery for years, but now, under new laws, boiling lobsters alive could be banned through the UK.
The government are now recognising that lobsters, crabs, octopuses, squids are all sentient.
Parliament is currently reviewing the Animal Sentience bill, which would recognise the sentience of vertebrates or animals with a backbone. However, this bill has received pushback from campaigners to include shellfish and cephalopod molluscs.
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The following is from the Government website where it outlines the plans for the bill:
- Puppy smuggling: The Government will introduce new powers to tackle the unethical trade of puppy smuggling by reducing the number of pets (dogs, cats and ferrets) that can travel under pet travel rules. It will also include powers for the Government to bring in further restrictions on the movement of pets on welfare grounds, for example by increasing the minimum age of imported puppies and restricting the import of pregnant dogs and dogs with mutilations such as cropped ears and tails.
- Live exports: Live animals can endure excessively long journeys during export, causing distress and injury. EU rules prevented any changes to these journeys, but the UK Government is now free to pursue plans which would see a ban on the export of live animals for slaughter and fattening. We will become the first European country to end this practice.
- Banning keeping primates as pets: Primates are highly intelligent animals with complex needs and require specialist care. The Government will deliver on its manifesto commitment to introduce a ban on keeping them as pets, ensuring that all primates being kept privately in England are being kept at zoo-level standards and that those unable to meet the standards are phased out.
- Livestock worrying: The Bill will give new powers to the police to provide greater protection to livestock from dangerous and out of control dogs. The Bill will also extend this protection to other species such as llamas, ostriches and game birds.
- Zoos: The Zoo Licensing Act will be amended to improve zoo regulations and ensure that zoos are doing more to contribute to conservation.
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As part of the proposed bill, the Government launched a separate enquiry into the sentience of cephalopods and decapods.
Experts have already confirmed that Lobsters feel pain, and in fact, learn to avoid it. They experience depression, understand hierarchy, and learn to recognise other Lobsters they have previously had interactions with.
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“It is wonderful to hear that the government is planning to support the inclusion of decapods and cephalopods in the sentience bill,’ said Maisie Tomlinson, co-director of Crustacean Compassion to Metro.
“There is more than enough evidence for the ability of these sensitive, captivating creatures to feel pain and suffer. They undergo appalling treatment in the food industry.”
