Yes, boiling a live lobster is unlawful and cruel because animal welfare rules acknowledge that crustaceans experience pain, and boiling a live lobster is prohibited in nations like Switzerland, Norway, New Zealand, and England. The custom of submerging lobsters and other crustaceans in boiling water without stunning them unconscious before cooking has been outlawed by a revolutionary regulation issued by the Swiss government.
As of March 1, 2018, before they can be cooked alive, they must be stunned by electric shock or mechanical brain damage. According to the new law, live crustaceans must “always be held in their natural environment” (i.e., saltwater), and transporting or stocking them on ice or ice water is prohibited on the grounds that it is cruel, citing evidence that these creatures are capable of suffering.
Scientists are beginning to realize that comparing the brains of these animals to our own has inherent limitations that can obscure our understanding of the animals’ capacity for suffering, despite the fact that these animals have historically proven challenging to study due to their different anatomy—lobsters and other crustaceans lack the brain structure typically associated with pain sensation.
Scientists reasoned that since the neocortex in humans is linked to pain and stress, all animals must possess this brain structure in order to sense these emotions. However, more recent research indicates that the nerve systems and brains of crustaceans are structured differently.
Crustaceans have “a suitable central nervous system and receptors.” Following a potentially painful event, they learn to avoid a negative stimulus. When they are injured, they also react defensively by limping and rubbing. When pain or stress is suspected, physiological changes also take place, such as the release of hormones that resemble adrenal glands. Additionally, the animals base their decisions in the future on anticipated traumatic past experiences. When crabs are given medication, such as analgesics or anesthetics, they seem to feel better and react less to unpleasant stimuli. Lastly, crabs have “high cognitive ability and sentience,” according to the experts.
A more recent study by Elwood and co-author Barry Magee revealed that a near relative of the food-producing crab species reacts to electric shocks and subsequently avoids them. “These data, and those of other recent experiments, are consistent with key criteria for pain experience and are broadly similar to those from vertebrate studies,” the study said. “The findings suggest the food and aquaculture industry should rethink how it treats these animals,” the scientists concluded, according to the BBC.
Content for this question contributed by Enoch Ornstead, resident of Alta Loma, California, USA
