https://www.businessinsider.com/octopuse...uk-2021-11
EXCERPTS: Octopuses, crabs, and lobsters will be recognized as sentient beings under UK animal welfare laws after a review concluded there is strong evidence they are capable of feelings.
[...] The announcement said the bill "already recognizes all animals with a backbone (vertebrates) as sentient beings. However, unlike some other invertebrates (animals without a backbone), decapod crustaceans and cephalopods have complex central nervous systems, one of the key hallmarks of sentience."
[...] The review, published this month, found there was "strong evidence" that such animals are sentient, which the review defines as having "the capacity to have feelings, such as feelings of pain, pleasure, hunger, thirst, warmth, joy, comfort and excitement."
[...] The report also made specific recommendations on animal welfare practices based on its findings, including:
EXCERPTS: Octopuses, crabs, and lobsters will be recognized as sentient beings under UK animal welfare laws after a review concluded there is strong evidence they are capable of feelings.
[...] The announcement said the bill "already recognizes all animals with a backbone (vertebrates) as sentient beings. However, unlike some other invertebrates (animals without a backbone), decapod crustaceans and cephalopods have complex central nervous systems, one of the key hallmarks of sentience."
[...] The review, published this month, found there was "strong evidence" that such animals are sentient, which the review defines as having "the capacity to have feelings, such as feelings of pain, pleasure, hunger, thirst, warmth, joy, comfort and excitement."
[...] The report also made specific recommendations on animal welfare practices based on its findings, including:
- Banning the declawing of crabs
- Banning the sale of live crabs and lobsters to "untrained, non-expert handlers"
- Banning the following slaughter methods when a viable alternative exists and when electrical stunning is not done first: boiling alive and live dismemberment