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It may be hoped that, with invertebrate sentience in the spotlight, the limited laws already in place will be better enforced against egregiously cruel practices. Despite this, lobsters and crabs are routinely boiled alive in seafood restaurants. For example, the law currently prohibits killing invertebrates in ways that cause avoidable suffering. What can those who want to see improved legal treatment of animals hope for? The law’s recognition of the sentience of certain invertebrates may lead to more animal-friendly interpretations of currently meagre protections. The Green Party’s Baroness Jones described it as “better than nothing”. Conservative peer Lord Moylan, on the other hand, excoriated the law for contributing to what he called the “profoundly anti-human” agenda of the animal rights movement. Animal welfare campaigners hailed it as “ a victorious day for animals”, “ groundbreaking legal progress” and “ a big step towards recognising the rights of other animals”.
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The secretary of state would need to respond in parliament to these reports within three months of their publication.
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The bill also establishes an Animal Sentience Committee, which will report on how government policies affect animal welfare, and can recommend further changes in how those policies are formed and implemented. This is progress compared with the Animal Welfare Act 2006 of England and Wales, which – along with its Scottish and Northern Irish equivalents – only applies to vertebrates. In addition to all vertebrate animals (animals with backbones such as mammals, birds and fish), the legislation includes certain invertebrates, including lobsters, crabs and octopuses. GAIA reports that 83% of Brussels residents are aware that lobsters feel pain. In addition, four in five Brussels residents believe that lobsters feel pain when they are boiled alive and consider that this is also the case when they are cut up alive. 80% of Walloons agree that there should be a legal ban on killing lobsters without stunning them.Ĭrustastun is an electrical stunning and killing device developed to render crustaceans unconscious without impacting the quality of the meat.What’s interesting about this bill is not that it says animals are sentient, but that it specifies which animals are sentient. Such a ban would receive the support of a large part of the population. GAIA is therefore collecting signatures for a petition to introduce a ban on the live boiling or cutting of lobsters without stunning. Recent scientific research has concluded that that crustaceans, such as crabs and lobsters are sentient beings that feel pain. The animals are commonly then boiled alive or cut in half without being stunned. Exposed to air, they are unable to excrete bodily waste products, and their condition weakens significantly leading to a slow death. On arrival, the lobsters are at best kept alive in water tanks, sometimes for months. They are held vertically with their claws held upright. The lobsters are transported from Canada to Belgium in polystyrene foam boxes with gel ice packs. The whole journey of the lobster from capture to death is agonising. Belgians are the largest consumer of lobster in the world per capita. Each year, Belgium imports an average of 3.8 million live lobsters, mainly from Canada.