Stop Cruelly Boiling Crustaceans Alive

Target: Kevin Shea, Administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Goal: Make boiling lobsters and other crustaceans alive a national felony. 

Recent studies have confirmed what was already known to many— lobsters, crabs, crayfish, and other crustaceans are sentient and can feel pain in the same ways that can mammals and other animals. Still, in the U.S. and many other places throughout the world, crustaceans don’t receive the same levels of protection by current animal welfare legislation. These sentient creatures are forced to endure cruel methods of slaughter and are oftentimes boiled alive, without receiving any prior stunning to minimize their suffering.

Accounts by those who have boiled lobsters alive note that the creatures writhe and wriggle, trying desperately to escape the scalding water. In one instance that was videoed and published online, a crayfish even sliced off its own claw to avoid being boiled alive. These animals can suffer in these conditions upwards of three whole minutes, before eventually succumbing to an untimely death. If we must eat crustaceans in the first place, we at least owe them the respect of a painless death free of the immense suffering they are currently subjected to.

We must enforce the same regulations that are in place for other animals used in agricultural practices and do better to protect the feelings of these sentient beings. Sign this petition to urge the U.S. to follow after the actions of the UK and Switzerland and to outlaw this inhumane practice for good.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear Administrator Shea,

It has been recently confirmed by a series of reports in the UK that lobsters and other crustaceans– such as crabs, shrimp, and crawfish– are, in fact, capable of feeling pain in the same ways that humans and other animals do. Crustaceans have relatively sophisticated nervous systems and retain memory of harmful stimuli they have experienced in the past. These creatures are able to learn about features of their environments, and avoid ones that are harmful to them. 

While many other animals, like cows and pigs, receive protection under current U.S. animal welfare legislation, these laws do not extend to our crustacean counterparts. There are no official laws in place that require these animals to be stunted or chilled to minimize their sensibility to pain before they are dumped into pots of scalding water. To keep allowing this barbaric slaughter of sentient creatures is outright inhumane. 

We are asking you to please advocate for these crustaceans and to enforce the same standards that are in place for other animals. While allegedly outlawed in the U.S., the boiling of live lobsters is still a common practice, and regulations must be properly enforced. Many other countries, such as Switzerland, Norway, and New Zealand, have already made the step towards improving the welfare standards of our world’s sea-faring animals, and it is now our turn. Stop subjecting these sentient animals to unnecessary torture!

Sincerely,

[Your Name here]

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