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UK Sentience Bill passes into law

In a landmark ruling, animals like lobsters, crabs, cuttlefish, shrimp, octopus and squid will be sheltered by this law which crucially distinguishes that these creatures are capable of feeling pain and aims to make provision for an ‘animal sentience committee’ which will be at liberty to hold any government policies to account if they do not consider the ramifications for animals and their wellbeing.

Invertebrates have not received the same protection as vertebrate species (e.g., birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and fish) and many people have long understood that they are incapable of feeling pain which is notoriously hard to measure since it is often confused with reflexes. However, a much better criterion is to monitor the animals’ grooming responses to injury – it comes as a surprise to many that a prawn will groom compulsively in response to a corrosive substance which has made its way onto the invertebrate’s body.

A proposition has been to apply the precautionary principle, this means when evidence is unclear, we should give animals the benefit of the doubt (Birch 2017). Once the Bill receives Royal Assent, it will be known as The Animal Welfare (sentience) Act 2022. This is a very important move because it not only recognises that animals are sentient but that specific animals are sentient, perhaps ones previously assumed to merely ‘exist’

The Bill has some nebulous tendencies, though. It lacks lucidity as to how it will be financed and how the committee will be appointed and could become gloomily besieged with industry stooges and vested interests.

Shellfish production is a billion-dollar industry worldwide, responsible for numerous jobs, sources of food, and is deeply imbedded in the cultures of many nations and without this piece of legislation, the impact assessments up to this point were failing several sentient species. This is an important mechanism to hold governments to account when planning large projects and trade policies.

Though a welcome move forward, there is a very long way to go. The bill does not assure automatic protection for animals, only that ministers must ‘give all due regard’ to possible negative impacts of new legislation on animal welfare. This most surely creates a huge loophole with which to argue that multiple factors outweigh the animals’ welfare. Alongside shareholders and lay members, it should be required that independent animal welfare and ethics experts are included on the committee.

We need to protect the welfare of all sentient beings and end the slaughter of crabs and lobsters by being boiled alive. We also need to learn more about gastropods and crustaceans as the demand for their consumption continues to rise with nothing in place to, at the very least, ensure a ‘humane’ slaughter, if that is not an oxymoron.