Researchers urge urgent prohibition on boiling lobsters alive after discovering that crustaceans are capable of experiencing pain

Scientists have called for an immediate ban on boiling lobsters alive – as they confirm that crustaceans can feel pain. 

Since 2021, the UK government has recognised that crustaceans are sentient beings. 

However, it has so far refused to implement an outright ban on boiling them alive.

Now, a group of scientists, lawyers, and charities including the RSPCA is calling on the government to ‘urgently’ change its policies.

In a letter addressed to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and exclusively shared with MailOnline this morning, a group of individuals are advocating for the prohibition of boiling lobsters and crabs alive.

The Animal Law Foundation adds it will even ‘explore legal action’ against the Government in the event that widespread killing by boiling continues.

Scientists say boiling undoubtedly causes crabs and lobsters several minutes of excruciating pain before they eventually lose consciousness.

Professor Lynne Sneddon, a prominent expert in crustacean perception from the University of Gothenburg and one of the signatories of the letter, highlighted to MailOnline that subjecting these creatures to boiling water is akin to mistreating other animals such as cows or chickens.

‘So it is time to apply the same rules we give to mammals and birds to other sentient animals.’

A group of scientists, lawyers, and charities is calling on the Government to urgently ban boiling lobsters and crabs alive amid clear evidence that they can feel pain (file photo)

The open letter’s main argument is that boiling live decapod crustaceans – a group of animals including crabs and lobsters, is already illegal under UK law.

In particular, the authors point to the Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (England) Regulations 2015 (WATOK) and the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022, also called the Sentience Act.

WATOK makes it an offence to kill or restrain any invertebrate animal in a way that causes ‘any avoidable pain, distress or suffering to that animal’.

Meanwhile, the Sentience Act specifically states that ‘lobsters, octopus and crabs and all other decapod crustaceans’ are sentient beings.

Yet DEFRA’s current position is that there are no restrictions on how crustaceans should be killed despite being sentient invertebrates.

In their open letter, The Animal Law Foundation argues that the Sentience Act law clearly implies that lobsters and crabs should be protected under WATOK.

That would make boiling a crab or lobster alive illegal, if it could be shown that this caused them ‘any avoidable pain’.

And, as the letter points out, there is now a growing body of scientific evidence proving that crustaceans have complex mental lives which includes pain perception.

Mounting scientific evidence suggests that lobsters are sentient animals capabable of experiencing pain. In an open letter sent to the Government, scientists argue that this is good reason to make boiling them alive illegal 

Professor Sneddon says: ‘There are a number of published scientific studies demonstrating that decapod crustaceans can form relationships within and between species, they can learn and remember tasks such as navigating mazes, and that they can make decisions based upon the costs and benefits of any situation.’

Furthermore, in her own research Professor Sneddon showed painful stimuli including pressure and chemical burns are actually processed in crabs’ brains.

In our bodies, and in the bodies of many other animals, specialised receptors called nociceptors detect damage and send signals to the central nervous system which are interpreted as pain.

The fact that nociceptors fire when a painful stimulus is applied is a key indication that an animal feels pain just like humans do.

The fact that crab nociceptors send signals to the brain is, therefore, extremely strong evidence that crabs and lobsters feel and process pain rather than just reflexively respond to stimuli.

In mammals our nocioceptors begin to produce a pain response at 40°C (104°C) while studies suggest that fish pain receptors start firing at just 29°C (84°F).

Likewise, boiling takes a long time to kill a crab or lobster, with some studies suggesting that their hearts continue to beat for more than two minutes during the process.  

This makes it very likely that crabs and lobsters would experience pain while being boiled.

Researchers recorded the brain activity of paralyzed crabs as they were subjected to painful stimulation from acid and physical probes. They discovered that these tissues contained pain receptors which sent messages to the brain when stimulated

Eleftherios Kaisouras, co-author of the paper and signatory to the letter, told MailOnline: ‘When it comes to crabs and lobsters experiencing pain when boiled alive, in my opinion: yes.

‘It takes some time for the animals to be rendered unconscious, so till then they will be able to experience pain when boiled alive.’

Additionally, the Government’s decision to include decapod crustaceans on the list of sentient creatures was prompted by the findings of a 2021 review undertaken by scientists at the London School of Economics.

This extensive report concluded: ‘We have high confidence that live boiling (without prior stunning) is an inhumane slaughter method for relatively large decapods, which may take more than 2 minutes to die.’

Professor Sneddon says: ‘The UK recognises decapod crustaceans as sentient in law and as such that they are capable of suffering, yet they have not been added to the Animal Welfare Law or the Scientific legislation.

‘The science has spoken and it is time to treat decapod crustaceans as sentient beings and I believe the letter will drive improved treatment of these animals by banning live boiling.’

Based on these key research papers, the open letter argues it is not acceptable for decapod crustaceans to be exempted from the protections afforded to other sentient animals under WATOK.

Ilinca Tuvene, legal caseworker at the Animal Law Foundation, says: ‘The law is clear, animals including crabs and lobsters must be spared avoidable pain at the time of killing, the science is clear that this cannot be met by boiling these animals alive.

This graph shows the spike in brain activity produced when acetic acid was applied to the leg of a shore crab. The red vertical line shows the moment the acid was applied. This spike in activity is considered very strong evidence that crabs and other tetrapod crustaceans can feel pain 

‘The Government must take its regulatory responsibilities seriously and prevent widespread illegality by the industry.’

The Animal Law Foundation also argues that public support is now on the side of a ban.

A recent YouGov poll showed that 61 per cent of the British public surveyed already think it is unacceptable to cook decapod crustaceans by boiling them alive.

But this rises to 78 per cent of Britons when they are asked to consider if crabs and lobsters might feel pain during the process.

Signatories to the open letter include leading charities such as Animal Aid, FOUR PAWS UK, the RSPCA, and World Animal Protection.

They are joined by a number of leading scientists and legal experts as well as celebrities such as Sarah-Jane Honeywell, and TV presenters Wendy and Anthea Turner.

The letter calls for the Government to introduce legislation which would make it an offence to boil a decapod crustacean alive in a commercial setting or in the home.

Instead, people would be required to use the more humane spiking or whole-body splitting method for crabs and lobsters respectively which have been shown to kill in less than 10 seconds.

Despite acknowledging that they are sentient, the UK government does not requrie commercial fishermen, restaurants, or home cooks to kill crabs and lobsters in a humane way. This open letter is calling for an immediate change to the law (file photo)

Commercial operations, meanwhile, would be permitted to use specialist electrocution devices that kill the animal quickly after initially stunning it.

The open letter concludes: ‘The Animal Law Foundation and the undersigned call on DEFRA to revise its position regarding the welfare of crustaceans at the time of killing and to acknowledge that boiling these animals alive cannot be reconciled with the law.

‘The time to end this inhumane practice is long overdue and we call on the Government to act decisively on this matter.’

DEFRA has been contacted for comment.