Government Set to Ban Boiling Lobsters Alive
The government is finally listening to calls from the public, MPs, and animal rights groups for a ban on boiling lobsters alive.
The inhumane practice – which still takes place in many restaurants across the UK – will be outlawed when invertebrates like crabs and lobsters are included in the provisions of the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill and afforded protections.
Will the Government Ban Boiling Lobsters Alive?
It’s welcome news that the government is looking to extend the bill to cover lobsters, crabs, and other crustaceans as well as mollusks! Scientifically and morally, it’s the right thing to do.
Right now, it’s perfectly legal to boil lobsters alive, as these animals are not protected by any UK animal welfare laws. However, if the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill is extended, this could mean that lobsters and crabs can no longer be killed in cruel ways – like forcing them into a pot of boiling water or dismembering them without stunning.
This is huge progress, but we can help these fascinating animals even more simply by leaving them off our plates.
Unnecessary Torture
Lobsters are sentient beings, and in an official report presented to the European Commission, a panel of scientific experts concluded beyond doubt that they can suffer and feel pain – just as humans and other animals can.
Boiling them alive has been described as “unnecessary torture” by a researcher in the journal Science, and lobsters who endure this cruel fate have been known to writhe wildly and scrape at the sides of the pot in a desperate attempt to escape from the scalding-hot water.
Think of it this way: if you wouldn’t drop a cat into a pot of boiling water and watch them struggle in agony, there’s no justification for doing this to a lobster. Why should it be any different for these often-misunderstood marine animals? Although their physiology may differ from ours and from other animals, invertebrates are able to feel and experience pain and suffering just like us.
No longer boiling animals alive is a step in the right direction, but killing lobsters by any method in order to eat them is cruel and unnecessary. Rather than pulling these animals from their ocean homes, transporting them vast distances, and taking their lives, we could simply leave them alone and eat with compassion.
What You Can Do
Lobsters don’t just endure a living hell in restaurants: right now, live lobsters are being sold on Amazon.co.uk. They’re cruelly packaged and delivered by post as if they were nothing more than a parcel of socks.
Please contact Amazon now and ask the company to remove lobsters and other live animals from its platform.
