CAMPAIGNS
EXTENDING THE ANIMAL WELFARE ACT 2006 TO INCLUDE LOBSTERS, CRABS AND OTHER CRUSTACEANS AND SHELLFISH
SUMMARY
The Animal Welfare Act 2006 states that its protections can be extended to other types of animal if it can be proved that they experience pain. There is as much scientific evidence to suggest that, at the least, the decapod crustaceans experience pain as there is to suggest that animals already protected by the Act experience pain . The principle of consistency is central to our legal system. Therefore, guided by the clear intention set down in Section One, Subsections 3 and 4, the Act should be extended to protect these animals
WHY THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ANIMAL WELFARE ISSUES
It is important because of the magnitude of the cruelty involved – i.e. these animals are often boiled alive or cut up alive, causing extreme pain. For example, lobsters and crabs that are boiled alive may react by throwing off their limbs, by thrashing about, or by tearing at their own bodies with their claws.
The RSPCA, Viva, Animal Aid, the Shellfish Network and, more recently, Crustacean Compassion and other animal welfare organisations all want greater protection for these animals.
THE ANIMAL WELFARE ACT
The Act offers the following protection to ‘protected’ animals (i.e. vertebrates)
Unnecessary suffering.
SECTION FOUR
(1)A person commits an offence if—.
(a) an act of his, or a failure of his to act, causes an animal to suffer,
(b) he knew, or ought reasonably to have known, that the act, or failure to act, would have that effect or be likely to do so,
(c) the animal is a protected animal, and
(d) the suffering is unnecessary
EXTENDING THE ACT
The Animal Welfare Act states the following:
SECTION ONE
(3) The appropriate national authority may by regulations for all or any of the
purposes of this Act--
(a) extend the definition of “animal” so as to include invertebrates of any
description;
(4) The power under subsection (3)(a) or (c) may only be exercised 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.
DO CRUSTACEANS FEEL PAIN?
There is plentiful evidence that they do. The following is an overview of some of the studies on this subject.
An adapted, shortened excerpt from The Welfare of Crustaceans at Slaughter by Dr Stephanie Yue, 2008
(https://animalstudiesrepository.org/hsus_reps_impacts_on_animals/4)
Lobsters, crabs, prawns, and crayfish are large decapod crustacean species with well-developed nervous systems.1 ....there exists robust scientific evidence in support of crustaceans being sentient animals with the capacity to suffer. Research has found the presence of opioids and opioid receptors in crabs, leading scientists to postulate that some crustaceans may possess an analgesic system like that found in vertebrates.2 In an avoidance learning experiment, for example, crabs showed memory of aversive stimuli and learned to avoid the electric shocks by refraining from entering the environment associated with the painful stimulus, rather than simply escaping from it.3 In a more elaborate study, scientists investigated whether prawns showed evidence of feeling true pain rather than simple, reflexive, nociceptive responses by using both physiological and behavioural approaches.4 Noxious stimuli (irritating chemical solutions and physical pinching) applied to antennae caused prawns to display immediate reflex tail-flicking responses and also two prolonged activities, grooming of the antenna and rubbing of the antenna against the side of their enclosure. These responses were blocked with the application of the local anaesthetic, benzocaine. The researchers interpreted these results as crustaceans possessing the capacity to experience pain.5
A 2005 report on the protection of animals used for scientific and experimental purposes, prepared by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for the European Commission, concluded that the largest of the decapods have a pain system and complex cognitive capacity; therefore, these decapod crustaceans have been assigned Category 1 status — animals who are able to experience pain and distress. As such, the three Rs of replacement, reduction, and refinement will apply to crustaceans undergoing all experimental and scientific procedures 6 in attempts to decrease the levels of animal suffering where possible.....
...many crustaceans have been shown to demonstrate complex behaviour and physiological responses to noxious stimuli that provide evidence of their capacity to experience pain. 7,8,9,10
...the overwhelming majority of crustacean slaughter methods has been found to cause distress and, as such, is inhumane as they induce highly aversive behavior, including animals throwing off their own limbs, thrashing, or tearing at their own bodies with their pincer-like claws.11
SEE BELOW FOR DETAILED REFERENCES FOR YUE
SEE THE WEBPAGE 'MORE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE' FOR A DETAILED SLIDE SHOW PRESENTATION OF EXPERIMENTS SHOWING THAT DECAPOD CRUSTACEANS EXPERIENCE AND REMEMBER PAIN.
EXTENDING THE ACT- CONSISTENCY
There is as much scientific evidence to suggest that, at the least, the decapod crustaceans experience pain as there is to suggest that animals already protected by the Act experience pain . The principle of consistency is central to our legal system. Therefore, guided by the clear intention set down in Section One, Subsections 3 and 4, the Act should be extended to protect these animals.
EATING ANIMALS THAT HAVE BEEN KILLED INHUMANELY MAY AFFECT HUMAN HEALTH
When animals suffer pain during slaughter, stress hormones are released. This severely affects the quality of the meat produced.* This, in turn, may have a substantial effect on the health of those who eat the meat. However, more research needs to be done in this area.
* Guidelines for Humane Handling, Transport and Slaughter of Livestock, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations
THIS CRUELTY AFFECTS OUR SOCIETY AS A WHOLE
One mark of a civilized society is that it treats the animals under its protection humanely. By creating unnecessary suffering for animals, we may become insensitive to the suffering of other humans.
APPENDIX
The legislation of other countries protects crustaceans.
LEGISLATION IN NEW ZEALAND
An extract from the New Zealand Animal Welfare Act 1999
(2) Interpretation
(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,--
animal--
(a) means any live member of the animal kingdom that is--
(i) a mammal; or
(ii) a bird; or
(iii) a reptile; or
(iv) an amphibian; or
(v) a fish (bony or cartilaginous); or
(vi) any octopus, squid, crab, lobster, or crayfish (including freshwater crayfish); or
(vii) any other member of the animal kingdom which is declared from time to time by the Governor-General, by Order in Council, to be an animal for the purposes of this Act; and
REFERENCES FOR YUE
1 Baker JR. 1975. The humane killing of lobsters and crabs. The Humane Education Centre.
2 Barr S, Laming PR, Dick JTA, and Elwood RW. 2008. Nociception or pain in a decapod crustacean? Animal
Behaviour 75(3):745-51.
3 Fernandez-Duque E, Valeggia C, and Maldonado H. 1992. Multitrial inhibitory avoidance learning in the crab
Chasmagnathus. Behavioral and Neural Biology 57:189-97.
4 Barr S, Laming PR, Dick JTA, and Elwood RW. 2008. Nociception or pain in a decapod crustacean? Animal
Behaviour 75(3):745-51.
5 Barr S, Laming PR, Dick JTA, and Elwood RW. 2008. Nociception or pain in a decapod crustacean? Animal
Behaviour 75(3):745-51.
6 European Food Safety Authority, Scientific Panel on Animal Health and Welfare. 2005. Aspects of the biology
and welfare of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes.
www.efsa.europa.eu/cs/BlobServer/Scientific_Opinion/ahaw_labanimalswelfare_report1,0.pdf. Accessed
December 5, 2008.
7. Baker JR. 1975. Experiments on the humane killing of lobsters (Homarus vulgaris) and crabs (Cancer
pagurus). Part 1. The killing of lobsters by gradual heating. Scientific Papers of the Humane Education Centre
1:1-10
8. Baker JR, Dolan MB, and Coxhill J. 1975. Experiments on the humane killing of lobsters (Homarus vulgaris)
and crabs (Cancer pagurus). Part 3. The exposure of crabs to electric shock before boiling. Scientific Papers of
the Humane Education Centre 3:1-11, citing: Baker JR. 1955. Experiments on the humane killing of crabs.
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 34:15-24.
9. European Food Safety Authority, Scientific Panel on Animal Health and Welfare. 2005. Aspects of the
biology and welfare of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes.
www.efsa.europa.eu/cs/BlobServer/Scientific_Opinion/ahaw_labanimalswelfare_report1,0.pdf. Accessed
December 5, 2008.
10. Barr S, Laming PR, Dick JTA, and Elwood RW. 2008. Nociception or pain in a decapod crustacean? Animal
Behaviour 75(3):745-51.
11 Gardner C. 2004. Treating the prawn well on its way to the barbie: welfare of aquatic crustaceans. In: Jones B
(ed.), Welfare Underwater: Issues with Aquatic Animals. Proceedings of the 2004 RSPCA Australia Scientific
Seminar, Canberra, February 26 (Deakin West, Australia: RSPCA Australia Inc., pp. 21-4).