For generations, putting a live lobster into boiling water was considered normal, almost domestic. But the government of England has just said it plainly: that animal is conscious while it dies, and it agonizes for several minutes before the heat kills it.
Ben Sturgeon, director of the organization Crustacean Compassion, does not mince words: “When a live, conscious animal is placed in boiling water, it suffers several minutes of unbearable pain. This is torture and completely avoidable”. There are alternatives, such as stunning them with electric shocks or chilling them on ice before cooking them, and they are already used in Switzerland, Norway and New Zealand.
The measure is based on a 2022 law that recognized that octopuses, crabs and lobsters feel pain just like any other animal. England is now preparing to completely ban what for years passed as a simple recipe.
