TESSA KOUMOUNDOUROS
25 NOVEMBER 2021

The UK has officially recognized octopuses and crabs as sentient beings – finally catching up to well-established science on these intelligent animals.

"The science is now clear that decapods and cephalopods can feel pain and therefore it is only right they are covered by this vital piece of legislation," UK Animal Welfare Minister Lord Zac Goldsmith said in a statement.

The update to the Animal Welfare Sentience Bill, which would see decapods and cephalopods protected alongside all back-boned animals from frogs to dogs, follows a review of over 300 scientific studies by the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Cephalopods, such as squid and octopuses, and decapods (including crabs and lobsters) are already afforded protections under animal welfare legislation in other European countries like Norway, Sweden, and Austria.

"Sentience is the capacity to have feelings, such as feelings of pain, pleasure, hunger, thirst, warmth, joy, comfort, and excitement," the researchers explain in the report.

SNIP