UK Octopuses, crabs and lobsters to be recognised as sentient beings under UK law

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Octopuses, crabs and lobsters to be recognised as sentient beings under UK law following LSE report findings

Octopuses, crabs and lobsters will receive greater welfare protection following an LSE report demonstrating they have capacity to experience pain or distress.
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Octopuses, crabs and lobsters to be recognised as sentient beings und…

archived 20 Nov 2021 07:02:12 UTC
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Octopuses, crabs and lobsters will receive greater welfare protection in UK law following an LSE report which demonstrates that there is strong scientific evidence that these animals have the capacity to experience pain, distress or harm.
The UK government has today confirmed that that the scope of the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill will be extended to all decapod crustaceans and cephalopod molluscs.
This move follows the findings of a government-commissioned independent review led by Dr Jonathan Birch. The review drew on over 300 existing scientific studies to evaluate evidence of sentience in cephalopods (including octopuses, squid and cuttlefish) and decapods (including crabs, lobsters and crayfish).
Dr Jonathan Birch, Associate Professor at LSE’s Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science and Principal Investigator on the Foundations of Animal Sentience project, said:
"I'm pleased to see the government implementing a central recommendation of my team's report. After reviewing over 300 scientific studies, we concluded that cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans should be regarded as sentient, and should therefore be included within the scope of animal welfare law.
“The amendment will also help remove a major inconsistency: octopuses and other cephalopods have been protected in science for years, but have not received any protection outside science until now. One way the UK can lead on animal welfare is by protecting these invertebrate animals that humans have often completely disregarded."
The review also evaluated the potential welfare implications of current commercial practices involving these animals. It recommends against declawing, nicking, eyestalk ablation, the sale of live decapod crustaceans to untrained, non-expert handlers, and extreme slaughter methods such as live boiling without stunning. It also includes suggestions for best practices for transport, stunning and slaughter.
Animal Welfare Minister Lord Goldsmith said:
“The UK has always led the way on animal welfare and our Action Plan for Animal Welfare goes even further by setting out our plans to bring in some of the strongest protections in the world for pets, livestock and wild animals.
“The Animal Welfare Sentience Bill provides a crucial assurance that animal wellbeing is rightly considered when developing new laws. The science is now clear that crustaceans and molluscs can feel pain and therefore it is only right they are covered by this vital piece of legislation.”
Although decapod crustaceans and cephalopods have complex central nervous systems, one of the key hallmarks of sentience, up until now they have not been recognised under the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill.
 
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MarvinTheParanoidAndroid said:
Sapient just means "wise", "intelligent" (sci-fi jargon) or "relating to humans."

What does an Octopus even taste like?
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Depends on how you cook it.

Fried pretty much is spongy plus crunch of the batter fry.
Raw is chewy and "clear" with a bit of a meaty hydrating feel.

Most forms of Octopi foods are mostly tentacle since thats where the bulk of the meat lies; I don't know what mantle tastes like, or what the ink tastes like. If its anything like spaghetti al nero, I assume its a bit robust and heavy, and would be a good mix with the tentacles. Grilled Octo is very crisp, and is like an airy sea bacon with grill flavor.

Personally, as much as it pains my palate to agree to this, I'm in agreement with these findings, Octopi are extremely clever critters, and don't deserve the fate of cattle... unless they were bred specifically to be food, or are at the last legs of their life. [Wild Octopi live about 3-5 years] but there's no real way [outside of a biology expert] to tell whether a Wild Octo is an elder or not as the means for fishing them are mostly shotgun net approach.

My recommendation if you want to be "ethical" about it, stop catching Wild Octos, and start farming retard ones, like we do with Turkeys. Just make sure you breed some retardation into the gene pool so you don't have the ethical problem.

As per crabs and lobsters; that's also a weird level of yes and no. Crabs need to be fished, especially during population blooms because of situations of biodiversity flooding. Typically, a crab swarm of 100,000 is fine; but when you have a crab swarm of 500,000+ crabs in one area, this causes a nutrient shock on the ecosystem, whether it be to the flora or fauna. This is simply too many crabs, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with taking some of the excess, or preventing these blooms from happening in the first place.

As per the intelligence of lobsters/crabs; while not on the same level as Octopi, there's a level of self causation present; one can argue this is true of all wild animals. However, the method in preparing them is a bit extreme considering. You wouldn't boil a cow alive, nor would you a chicken.

The most humane thing if you are going to cook crab/lobster is:
1. If you have quick hands: Get a nail and drive it into the top portion of the shell between its eyes [this kills the crab], then proceed as normal
2. If you don't have quick hands: Put the crab in the freezer for 5 minutes, take it out, drive the nail in its head, proceed as normal.
 
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Alleviate said:
All animals are sentient in some way or another. I think it's dependent on your own culture or philosophy. I used to eat rabbits all the time and saw rodents and rodent-like animals as nothing but pests until I had a rabbit as a pet. Now I see them as pets instead of food, and would never eat rabbit again.
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I don't think rabbits are rodents..... That said people have cows/sheep/goats/chickens as pets and eat them

Philosophy Phil said:
Depends on how you cook it.

Fried pretty much is spongy plus crunch of the batter fry.
Raw is chewy and "clear" with a bit of a meaty hydrating feel.

Most forms of Octopi foods are mostly tentacle since thats where the bulk of the meat lies; I don't know what mantle tastes like, or what the ink tastes like. If its anything like spaghetti al nero, I assume its a bit robust and heavy, and would be a good mix with the tentacles. Grilled Octo is very crisp, and is like an airy sea bacon with grill flavor.

Personally, as much as it pains my palate to agree to this, I'm in agreement with these findings, Octopi are extremely clever critters, and don't deserve the fate of cattle... unless they were bred specifically to be food, or are at the last legs of their life. [Wild Octopi live about 3-5 years] but there's no real way [outside of a biology expert] to tell whether a Wild Octo is an elder or not as the means for fishing them are mostly shotgun net approach.

My recommendation if you want to be "ethical" about it, stop catching Wild Octos, and start farming exceptional individual ones, like we do with Turkeys. Just make sure you breed some retardation into the gene pool so you don't have the ethical problem.

As per crabs and lobsters; that's also a weird level of yes and no. Crabs need to be fished, especially during population blooms because of situations of biodiversity flooding. Typically, a crab swarm of 100,000 is fine; but when you have a crab swarm of 500,000+ crabs in one area, this causes a nutrient shock on the ecosystem, whether it be to the flora or fauna. This is simply too many crabs, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with taking some of the excess, or preventing these blooms from happening in the first place.

As per the intelligence of lobsters/crabs; while not on the same level as Octopi, there's a level of self causation present; one can argue this is true of all wild animals. However, the method in preparing them is a bit extreme considering. You wouldn't boil a cow alive, nor would you a chicken.

The most humane thing if you are going to cook crab/lobster is:
1. If you have quick hands: Get a nail and drive it into the top portion of the shell between its eyes [this kills the crab], then proceed as normal
2. If you don't have quick hands: Put the crab in the freezer for 5 minutes, take it out, drive the nail in its head, proceed as normal.
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Pretty good advice. I'll add that if you want tentacle food and want to keep octopi safe, squid aren't as sharp as octopi and taste just as good
 
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Snekposter said:
Like what, with a taser? Brute force?
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The proper way to live cook lobster, according to my field guide, is to put them in the pot while the water is still cold and slowly increase the water temperature. This puts the animals into unconsciousness long before they cook to death and is considered far more humane by chefs.
 
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Jaimas said:
The proper way to live cook lobster, according to my field guide, is to put them in the pot while the water is still cold and slowly increase the water temperature. This puts the animals into unconsciousness long before they cook to death and is considered far more humane by chefs.
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So like a frog who is slowly being boiled alive and it doesnt realize it till it's too late?

Humane and the animal is accepting death?
 
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I honestly agree with the octopus one. They're among the most intelligent animals on the planet. They have a brain, and then eight more sub-brains that exist entirely to control their arms.

But crabs and lobsters? They don't even have brains at all. They have basic ganglia that afford them just enough intelligence to act purely on instinct, like bugs. They almost certainly are incapable of feeling pain. The closest evidence we have is that they "react to negative stimuli", but so does my WoW character. Does that mean he can feel pain? So do amoebas. Can they feel pain?

This is like if the declaration of independence said "all men are created equal, and so are trees and iguanas, but just those three things".
 
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Octopuses, crabs and lobsters to be recognised as sentient beings under UK law​

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Technically, most lifeforms are sentient. Sapience is what they're thinking of. Doesn't mean crabs and lobsters suddenly gain sapience through law, though.
 
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Philosophy Phil said:
Depends on how you cook it.

Fried pretty much is spongy plus crunch of the batter fry.
Raw is chewy and "clear" with a bit of a meaty hydrating feel.

Most forms of Octopi foods are mostly tentacle since thats where the bulk of the meat lies; I don't know what mantle tastes like, or what the ink tastes like. If its anything like spaghetti al nero, I assume its a bit robust and heavy, and would be a good mix with the tentacles. Grilled Octo is very crisp, and is like an airy sea bacon with grill flavor.

Personally, as much as it pains my palate to agree to this, I'm in agreement with these findings, Octopi are extremely clever critters, and don't deserve the fate of cattle... unless they were bred specifically to be food, or are at the last legs of their life. [Wild Octopi live about 3-5 years] but there's no real way [outside of a biology expert] to tell whether a Wild Octo is an elder or not as the means for fishing them are mostly shotgun net approach.

My recommendation if you want to be "ethical" about it, stop catching Wild Octos, and start farming exceptional individual ones, like we do with Turkeys. Just make sure you breed some retardation into the gene pool so you don't have the ethical problem.

As per crabs and lobsters; that's also a weird level of yes and no. Crabs need to be fished, especially during population blooms because of situations of biodiversity flooding. Typically, a crab swarm of 100,000 is fine; but when you have a crab swarm of 500,000+ crabs in one area, this causes a nutrient shock on the ecosystem, whether it be to the flora or fauna. This is simply too many crabs, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with taking some of the excess, or preventing these blooms from happening in the first place.

As per the intelligence of lobsters/crabs; while not on the same level as Octopi, there's a level of self causation present; one can argue this is true of all wild animals. However, the method in preparing them is a bit extreme considering. You wouldn't boil a cow alive, nor would you a chicken.

The most humane thing if you are going to cook crab/lobster is:
1. If you have quick hands: Get a nail and drive it into the top portion of the shell between its eyes [this kills the crab], then proceed as normal
2. If you don't have quick hands: Put the crab in the freezer for 5 minutes, take it out, drive the nail in its head, proceed as normal.
Click to expand...
The mantle tastes exactly like the tentacles, minus the crunchiness of the suckers. Boiled octopus with tomato sauce and spaghetti is fucking delicious.

Also, feels quite weird to see people wondering what octopus tastes like. It's basically a staple where I live.
 
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