P-05-937 STOP BOILING CRUSTACEANS ALIVE (lobsters, crabs, crayfish, prawns etc), Correspondence – Petitioner to Committee, 03.09.20
Hello,
Thank you for your correspondence, my apologies for the late reply. I appreciate the update and have linked a few articles of the subject including a recent article outlining the British Veterinary Association campaign to make illegal the boiling alive of Lobsters, and an open letter to the UK government in 2018 (see below) that has been signed by eminent scientists, veterinary professionals, lawyers, actors, comedians and wildlife experts, including the RSPCA and the British Veterinary Association, asking the government to protect them in animal welfare law, which has been launched by campaign group https://www.crustaceancompassion.org.uk/ , I hope this will provide you with evidence of how much backing the call for the banning of boiling lobsters alive has in the UK and that Wales could lead by example in banning this barbaric act of cruelty.
I will be sending more information soon, but I await your reply.
Kind Regards
Rachel Ward
Cardiff Animal Rights
https://www.thoughtco.com/do-lobsters-feel-pain-4163893
https://www.crustaceancompassion.org.uk/
Rt Hon Michael Gove MP
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Nobel House
17 Smith Square
Westminster
London SW1P 3JR
31st January 2018
Dear Minister,
We the undersigned write out of concern for the welfare of decapod crustaceans who remain unprotected by animal welfare legislation. Based on recent compelling scientific evidence that they are sentient and therefore can experience pain, and in light of the extreme practices they are subjected to, we call on the government to include decapod crustaceans under the definition of ‘animal’ in the Animal Welfare Bill (Sentencing and Recognition of Sentience) and in the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
Decapod crustaceans are protected under animal welfare legislation in Norway, Switzerland, Austria, New Zealand and some Australian states and territories; as well as in some regions of Germany and Italy. Yet in the UK, decapods fall outside of the legal definition of ‘animal’ in the Animal Welfare Act 2006, and so there is currently no legal requirement for food processors, supermarkets or restaurants to consider their welfare during storage, handling or killing. However, Section 1 of the Act provides for the inclusion of invertebrates of any description “if the appropriate national authority is satisfied, on the basis of scientific evidence, that animals of the kind concerned are capable of experiencing pain or suffering” (Animal Welfare Act, 2006). Since the Animal Welfare Act 2006 was introduced, a body of scientific evidence has emerged which strongly indicates that decapod crustaceans do not merely respond to nociceptive stimuli, but are capable of experiencing pain. Avoidance learning, rapid behaviour change, prolonged rubbing of affected areas, the laying down of memories, and motivational trade-offs are among the criteria for pain experience that have been observed. A scientific summary is attached.
Despite this evidence, decapods are frequently seen crammed together in brightly lit tanks in food retail establishments with no consideration for their welfare; are frequently sold live to the consumer for amateur home storage and killing; and have even been found for sale live yet entirely immobilised in shrink-wrap. There is no economic or culinary reason why decapods cannot be humanely dispatched, yet killing is sometimes preceded by breaking off the legs, head or tail, and is often accomplished by boiling alive. Roth and Øines (2010) estimate that an edible crab boiled alive may remain conscious for at least three minutes.
More than 23,000 people have signed a petition online (change.org, 2018) and on paper to include decapods in the Animal Welfare Act 2006, and 41 animal welfare organisations have supported this recommendation in a joint post-Brexit animal welfare manifesto (Wildlife and Countryside Link, 2018). Given the strength of the existing evidence, the scale of suffering involved, and the public interest in this issue, we believe that the time has come to join other nations in recognising the sentience of these animals.
Yours sincerely,
1
Maisie Tomlinson
Campaign Director
Crustacean Compassion
2
Professor Michael C. Appleby OBE
Honorary Fellow. Expert researcher, educator and author on animal welfare, member of FAWC 2007-16.
University of Edinburgh
3
Bill Bailey
Comedian, Actor, Presenter
4
Claire Bass
Executive Director
Humane Society International UK
5
Professor Marc Bekoff
Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Colorado, Boulder
6
Professor Culum Brown
Associate Professor and Assistant Editor of the Journal of Fish Biology Macquarie University
7
Ian Cawsey
Animal Advocate. Member of Parliament 1997-2010, and Former Chair of the Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare (APGAW).
8
Eddie Clutton Dipl ECVAA MRCA
Director: Wellcome Trust Critical Care Laboratory for Large Animals; Academic Head: Veterinary Anaesthesia / BVSc MRCVS DVA Roslin Institute, Edinburgh
9
Dr Alasdair Cochrane
Senior Lecturer in Political Theory
The University of Sheffield
10
Martin Cooke MRCVS
Veterinary Invertebrate Society
11
Simon Doherty BVMS CertAqV MRCVS MRQA CBiol FRSB Director / Certified Aquaculture Veterinarian Blackwater Consultancy Ltd
12
Peter Egan
Actor and Animal Welfare Campaigner
13
Professor Bob Evans
Emeritus Professor of History
University of Oxford
14
Ricardo Fajardo
International Animal Welfare Legislative Expert; and El Derecho de los Animales (“Animal Law”) author, 2007
15
John Fishwick
President, British Veterinary Association; and signing on behalf of the British Veterinary Association
16
Charles Foster MA, VetMB, PhD, MRCVS
Fellow of Green Templeton College
University of Oxford
17
Professor Robert Garner
Professor of Politics
University of Leicester
18
Professor Peter Godfrey-Smith
Professor of History and Philosophy of Science University of Sydney
19
Professor Stevan Harnad
Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Science Editor, Animal Sentience University of Southampton
20
Vanessa Hudson
Leader
Animal Welfare Party
21
Dr Robert C. Jones
Associate Professor of Philosophy
California State University, Chico
22
Professor Andrew Knight MANZCVS, DipECAWBM (AWSEL), DipACAW, PhD, FRCVS, SFHEA Professor of Animal Welfare and Ethics University of Winchester
23
Dr Dan Lyons
CEO, Centre for Animals and Social Justice The University of Sheffield
24
Dr Heather Maggs
Postdoctoral researcher
University of Reading
25
Professor Jennifer Mather
Professor, Psychology
University of Lethbridge, AB Canada
26
Dr Steven McCulloch BVSc BA PhD DipECAWBM(AWSEL) MRCVS Acting Director, Centre for Animal Welfare. Recognised European Veterinary Specialist in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law / Centre for Animal Welfare, University of Winchester
27
Dr Alan McElligott
Reader in Animal Behaviour
University of Roehampton
28
Dr Dorothy McKeegan
BVA Animal Welfare Foundation Senior Lecturer University of Glasgow
29
Fieke Molenaar MSc DZM(Mammalian) MRCVS
President of British Veterinary Zoological Society British Veterinary Zoological Society
30
Jean-Marc Neumann
Lawyer LLM, Secretary General of EGALS (Educational Group for Animal Law Studies), Director and Editor of Animal et Droit
31
Chris Packham
Naturalist and Broadcaster
32
Dr Nick Palmer
Head of Policy
Compassion in World Farming
33
Dil Peeling BVSc MSc MRCVS
Formerly Senior Policy Officer, Eurogroup for Animals, Brussels
34
Dr Mirjam Prinz (nee Appel) PhD
Biological Scientist
Bavarian research institute of agriculture, Germany
35
Mike Radford OBE LLB
Reader in Animal Welfare Law
University of Aberdeen
36
Ian Redmond OBE CBiol, HonDUni, DSc h.c., FLS Independent Wildlife Biologist and Conservationist
37
Paul Roger
Independent Veterinary Consultant and Chair of AWSELVA
38
Professor Anil K. Seth
Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience; Co-Director, Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science; Editor-in-Chief, Neuroscience of Consciousness University of Sussex
39
Dr Toni Shephard
Executive Director
Animal Equality
40
Kellie Shirley
Actress
41
Alick Simmons
Independent Veterinarian; Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer, 2008-2016
42
Dr Lynne Sneddon B.Sc. (Hons), PhD
Director of Bioveterinary Science
University of Liverpool
43
Ronnie Soutar BVM&S, MSc, MRCVS
President Fish Veterinary Society
44
Michaela Strachan
TV Presenter and Conservationist
45
Dr Cedric Sueur
Head of the masters degree Animal Law and Ethics, Member of the French Council for Animal Experimentation Université de Strasbourg, France
46
Dr Alma Swan BSc (Zoology), PhD (Biology) Private individual
47
Dr Aurelie Thomas DVM, PhD, DipECAWBM (AWSEL), MRCVS Named Veterinary Surgeon Wellcome Sanger Institute
48
Lord Alexander Trees BVM&S, PhD, DVetMed, DVMS, MRCVS, HonFRSE Veterinarian/Crossbench Peer House of Lords
49
Wendy Turner Webster
TV Presenter
50
Peter Tutt
Coordinator
The Shellfish Network
51
Gary Webster
Actor
52
Professor John Webster MA, Vet MB, PhD, DVM (Hons, London), MRCVS Emeritus Professor of Animal Husbandry University of Bristol School of Veterinary Science
53
Dr Peter Wedderburn BVM&S CertVR MRCVS
Veterinarian
54
Dr Sean Wensley BVSc MSc Grad.DMS MRCVS
Senior Veterinary Surgeon
PDSA
55
Dr Julia Wrathall
Chief Scientific Officer
RSPCA