Completed petition STOP BOILING CRUSTACEANS ALIVE (lobsters, crabs, crayfish, prawns etc)

We call on the National Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh Government to implement greater protection for crustaceans and to ban the cruel practice of boiling lobsters, crabs crayfish, prawns etc alive.

Zoologists have found that, unlike humans, lobsters and other crustaceans DON'T have the ability to go into 'shock,' so when they are plunged into a pot of BOILING water, their suffering is prolonged. When other animals, including humans, experience extreme pain, their nervous system shuts down as a coping mechanism. Scientists have found that it takes lobsters & crabs up to 45 seconds to die when plunged into a pot of BOILING water (something which would be considered completely unacceptable in a vertebrate animal like a cow or a pig). To give this perspective, if they are dismembered their nervous system can still function for up to an hour.

The Animal Welfare Act is designed to protect animals on the understanding that sentient creatures can feel pain and we have a moral duty NOT to cause suffering. The Act makes it an offence to cause unnecessary suffering to any animal, both in their keeping and at the time of slaughter. It means that people or organisations who neglect or abuse 'protected' animals can be prosecuted. 'Farmed animals', fish and reptiles are all protected under this Act. However, invertebrates such as crabs and lobsters, crayfish & prawns are not.

Moreover, live crustaceans have been found for sale awaiting their fate on ice trays, packaged and bound tightly in tanks or plastic to be slaughtered at home by the customer. It is considered an act of animal cruelty to boil a lobster alive in Switzerland. The Swiss now need to stun or kill animals before boiling them and lobsters can't be kept alive on ice.

Extend the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to include crustaceans including Lobsters, crabs, prawns & crayfish etc.