The Swiss government has enacted a new law banning the practice of boiling lobsters alive. As of March 2018, any lobsters (or other crustaceans) prepared for a meal in Switzerland must be stunned or killed before they are boiled.
The basis of this law is Switzerland’s official recognition that lobsters are sentient beings with the ability to experience pain, and that recognition is also going to change the way they’re transported. From now on, Lobsters can no longer can be packed in ice for transit and storage. Instead, they’ll be kept in a natural environment of salty water.
Switzerland is not the first country to take these steps. Similar laws have been in place in New Zealand since 1999. Norway and the town of Reggio Emilia in Italy also include decapod (“ten-footed”) crustaceans in their animal welfare laws.
The debate over whether or not crustaceans feel pain has been going for decades. In recent years, however, several studies have indicated that crustaceans can and do feel pain. Robert Elwood, professor emeritus of animal behaviour at Queens University, Belfast, has spent over ten years researching this issue. “With the data,” Elwood says “we know it is highly likely that the animal will be in pain. We give protection to birds and mammals, [yet] currently we give very little protection to decapod crustaceans — lobsters and crabs — and the question comes, why is there this difference?”
Elwood’s often-referred-to 2013 experiment showed that crabs will abandon their shell when exposed to electric shocks. “I don’t know what goes on in a crab’s mind,” Elwood told the BBC. “But what I can say is the whole behaviour goes beyond a straightforward reflex response and it fits all the criteria of pain.”
The issue is summarised nicely by Barbara King, author of Personalities on the Plate: The Lives and Minds of Animals We Eat. King says, “Whether we know or don’t know, it’s our ethical responsibility to give them the benefit of the doubt and not put them into boiling water.”
What’s New…
I have always felt this was horrible. Why does anyone think a living being doesn’t feel pain? Just trying to ease their conscience ! Thank you Switzerland and other countries for realizing the horror of this !
A good step and thank you Switzerland.
It should be banned every where!!!!!!i don’t eat lobster and no one else should. Think about it they are bottom feeders they eat all the feces from other fish. Talk about people eating shit.
it is totally animal horrible cruelty to put any live animal in boiling water to kill it for human food…greedy uncaring humans! THIS BAN ON BOILING LIVE ANIMALS FOR FOOD MUST BE WORLD WIDE
Good for you Switzerland.??Fly there flag high.
Good for you Switzerland.??Fly there flag high. Maybe USA will do it too. Lol to much money will be lost.
Congratulations, Switzerland! Truly, this is a positive step in the proper direction. Hopefully, the U.S. and the rest of the world will follow suit.
This is a good start for lobsters. I always thought I was animal abuse. Good for Switzerland!
Awesome move Switzerland!
Hi Switzerland! Thank you for banning boiling lobsters. All animals have the right to live, and the same rights as humans. We need to go into a new era. No killing, torturing, or eating animals. Animals should live by our sides. I wish I knew about vegan diets when I was a kid. Have to work at it, but it is possible. Thanks, Switzerland for banning boiling Lobsters- Lets hope , soon, we can ban this cruelty on all sea life.
Thank you Switzerland. And now world, let’s get busy with banning the horrendous animal ag industry. Nothing but pain, torture and suffering for those animals – and that’s even before they get to the slaughterhouse. Please don’t support evil animal ag. If you wouldn’t torture an animal, don’t pay someone else to do
Thank you, Switzerland!
Good move. You quarrel and fuss in righteous indignation over China and Vietnam and Korea boiling dogs to eat, while doing EXACTLY the same with lobsters, shrimp and crabs. I am so proud of Switzerland.