Great news! Finally! The UK government has promised to ban the boiling of live animals! But you know what governments and their promises are like. There’s a long way between promises and action, so read the latest update from Crustacean Compassion (below) and give them all the support you can. Thank you ❤
You may have already seen this but yesterday, the Labour government published its long-awaited Animal Welfare Strategy and their action plan includes a commitment to improve welfare for decapod crustaceans. They announced that they will: publish guidance on which methods of killing decapods are compatible with the existing welfare at time of killing legal requirements, including by clarifying that live boiling is not an acceptable killing method.
That’s right, the UK government have stated that boiling live, conscious crustaceans is not acceptable. This is a huge and welcome step forward. It shows that our voices are being heard and that compassion is making its way into policy.
But it’s not over the finish line. Guidance must be published swiftly, cruel practices must be banned, and enforcement must follow. We still need to work hard to turn this promise into lasting protection.
And that’s where you come in. Please stand with us: follow us on social media for updates and celebrations, share our message so more people join the movement, or donate today to power our work.
If 2025 was the year to ban boiling alive, let’s make 2026 the year crustaceans are finally included in the Animal Welfare Act – the very protection our organisation was founded to secure.
Next year is extra special. Crustacean Compassion turns 10 and the Animal Welfare Act turns 20. Two anniversaries, one mission, and a perfect moment to finish what we started.
We’ll be celebrating, campaigning harder than ever, and pushing for change. Together, we can make history for crustaceans.
Thank you for being part of this journey and for giving the gift of compassion this Christmas!
Wishing you all very happy holidays, and a Happy New Year!
The following is copied and pasted from an email we received from Crustacean Compassion today. PLEASE take a couple of minutes to read it and take action to finally end this barbarity:
Last week we went to Westminster to take a stand against boiling alive – and wow, what a fantastic turnout of support we had.
On Tuesday 21 October, our team gathered outside Parliament to call on Defra to finally ban the horrific practice of boiling animals alive. We were joined by some of you, our amazing supporters, alongside MPs, our friends from other animal protection organisations, and our fabulous ambassador Wendy Turner-Webster, who brought along her wonderful 96-year-old father Brian. Together we formed a powerful collective voice for decapod crustaceans.
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With our banners raised and voices united, we delivered a clear message to newly appointed Defra Secretary Emma Reynolds: BAN BOILING ALIVE.
And here’s the crux of it: Defra has already promised to publish guidelines on the humane slaughter of decapod crustaceans – guidelines that should end live boiling. We welcomed that commitment. But with fewer than 10 weeks left in 2025, those guidelines still haven’t appeared.
The delay is unacceptable, and we’ve reached boiling point with the government’s inertia.
That’s why we showed up, and why we’ll keep showing up. Because crustaceans may not have voices, but we do. And we’ll keep speaking up until the law reflects compassion. You can too, by taking action today.
Let’s keep the momentum going – join our pincer movement and together, we can make boiling alive a thing of the past.
Follow us on social media for live updates, behind-the-scenes action, and ways you can help push this campaign forward. Every like, share, and comment helps amplify our message and bring us closer to a ban.
When Crustacean Compassion began back in 2016, it was with an aim to protect these fragile animals from pain and suffering. They began their campaign to get them included in the animal welfare legislation, and since then over 65,000 AMAZING supporters have joined them and signed their petition calling on the UK government to include decapod crustaceans in the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (England and Wales).
Will a new government mean new protections?
The last UK government legally recognised that decapods could feel pain, and historically included them in the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022 but… that is where they stopped. So Crustacean Compassion are calling on you again, to tell the new Labour government to act now and protect decapods. With this new government we have an excellent chance of getting decapods the protection they deserve, but we need your help.
What does the General Election mean for Crustacean Compassion?
On Wednesday May 22, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak surprised everyone by announcing that a General Election will be held on Thursday 04 July. In doing so, he fired the starting pistol on a six-week campaign where politicians will criss-cross the country vying for your votes.
Animal welfare always ranks high in the list of priorities for voters, and Crustacean Compassion will be working hard to ensure that the voice of decapods is heard throughout. These special animals were recognised as sentient in UK law over two years ago, but since then progress on increasing their legal protections and improving their treatment in the food industry has stalled.
What happens next? Crustacean Compassion has already written to the political party leaders to seek their support and next week will be contacting all the candidates directly to ask them to support these pledges.
But they need your help. Watch out for updates on their social media channels for details on how you can help us reach as many candidates as possible and make sure that decapods have the strongest possible voice in the new parliament.
They’ll also be sharing more information about how you can get involved with this campaign in your local area.
Their new campaign to ban live sales They’ve launched this new petition to show the new government that decent people in the UK support a full ban on the live decapods being sold as food. Every day in the UK animals like crabs, lobsters, prawns and crayfish are sold alive to the untrained public to be killed and cooked at home. This causes EXTREME pain and suffering to these fragile, sentient animals.
“Today is World Animal Free Research Day. This day highlights the importance of developing animal-free research techniques and protecting animals during scientific studies.
Decapods in Science
Decapods, like crabs and lobsters, are used in science, but because they aren’t protected by laws that monitor experiments, there’s currently no way of ensuring their welfare in labs. They could be used for any experiment, as well as being handled and kept in ways that are harmful to their wellbeing.
We’re working to change this.
Science in Legislation
A law exists called ‘Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act’, also referred to as ‘ASPA’. This piece of legislation regulates the use of animals in science to ensure welfare is considered. Studies using animals that are protected by this law must justify why they are conducting that study, and how they are respecting the welfare of the animals used. It also means the number of animals used must be reported, so there are records to gauge the scale of the issue.
Now that their sentience has been officially recognised, we’re calling for decapods to be added to this law so that they are protected in the same way as other animals during experiments. One of the first things we’ll be doing is arranging a meeting with the Home Office to discuss expanding ASPA to cover decapods too.
We also published a press release with the RSPCA on World Day for Laboratory Animals, calling for the protection of decapods in science. The story was covered by The Guardian and Independent, and Animal Journal.
Make sure to keep up to date with the campaign to see our next steps in getting decapods protected in laws such as ASPA.
“I believe I am not interested to know whether Vivisection produces results that are profitable to the human race or doesn’t. To know that the results are profitable to the race would not remove my hostility to it. The pains which it inflicts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity towards it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further.” Mark Twain in a letter to the London Anti-Vivisection Society, May 26, 1899
“We have great news! Government report confirms decapods can feel pain
A year ago, in response to our campaigning, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) commissioned an independent piece of work, looking into whether or not animals like crabs, lobsters and prawns (decapod crustaceans) are sentient animals and can feel pain. After numerous delays, and much chasing by Crustacean Compassion and our wonderful supporters – the report has finally been published! We may have waited a year… but the findings are well worth it! An expert team of scientists, led by Dr Jonathan Birch, at London School of Economics (LSE) reviewed all available evidence, and concluded that decapods are capable of feeling pain and must be protected. The wealth of scientific evidence confirmed what we knew already – these animals are sentient beings! Here’s a quote from the report: “We recommend that all cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans be regarded as sentient animals for the purposes of UK animal welfare law. They should be counted as “animals” for the purposes of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and included in the scope of any future legislation relating to animal sentience”The government’s plan to protect decapods.
In light of this, the UK Government are planning to amend the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill to protect decapod crustaceans alongside vertebrates. The inclusion of decapods in this legislation is ground breaking! The legal recognition of their sentience means their welfare must be considered in policy making decisions and will influence how they are handled and treated. At the moment, decapods have no more protection than vegetables. They are boiled alive, chopped up alive, sent live in the post… This legal protection is long overdue! What happens next?
The Sentience Bill is due to continue its passage through parliament to become law. The next step is Report Stage in the House of Lords, taking place Tuesday 30th November. On this day, we expect the government’s amendment to include decapods to be confirmed and put into print! Make sure to stay tuned as we’ll be sharing updates on our social media, website and by email. Thank you!
It has taken us years of work to get to this point, and we couldn’t have done it without you all. Every action taken has brought us one step closer to protecting these vulnerable and overlooked animals. Thanks to all of you, we are changing animal welfare history. Thank you for your ongoing support.”
Maisie, Claire, Jules, Laura, Ann Crustacean Compassion
Thank you so much to everyone who signed the petition, shared the campaign, wrote to their representatives, and helped make this happen. Thank you so so much. xxxxx
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Violet’s Vegan Comics creates funny, enlightening and sometimes action packed vegan children’s books for readers of all ages, which are free to read online.
“We’d like to thank you for sending in your wonderful selfies…We received hundreds!
By signing our petition and writing to your MPs, as thousands of you have, the government have heard your voices. But we wanted to go one step further and provide the opportunity to show your faces too.
We wanted to use your faces to demonstrate visually how much support there is for the legal protection of vulnerable animals like crabs, prawns and lobsters. To do this, we’ve used every selfie to create a ‘welfare mosaics’; images of these overlooked animals, made-up by the faces of the people standing up for them:
We have been sharing this mosaic all over social media and are continuously reminding Defra of the deadline they have promised to ensure the review of decapod sentience is published before the Sentience Bill’s next step through parliament. We expect this to come very soon and will keep you updated!
Show your face and show your support.
In the meantime, let’s get the message out there. Join Michaela Strachan and our other amazing supporters by sharing our mosaic far and wide on social media! Don’t forget to tag @Defra too if you can!”
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I’m sure, like us, you would like to take a sledgehammer to the doors of all seafood restaurants and rescue the still living sentient beings who are yet to endure horrific abuse. But we would not likely get away with that for long and even if we were successful for a while, those rescued animals would simply be replaced with other victims. Crustacean Compassion’s campaign is our best hope of permanently preventing the unimaginable cruelty suffered by crustaceans. Please share their work on social media, whether you’re from the UK or not, and inspire some morality amongst the decision-makers.
Thank you.
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Violet’s Vegan Comics creates funny, enlightening and sometimes action packed vegan children’s books for readers of all ages.
Stop lobsters, crabs and other shellfish being boiled alive by uploading a selfie to show the government you support Crustacean Compassion’s campaign.
The government is still undecided about including crustaceans in the new Sentience Bill, so please, no matter where you’re from, upload a selfie to tell the British government to do the right thing. This is an opportunity we’ve never had before. Thanks to Crustacean Compassion we are closer than ever to getting some protection for these horrifically abused animals. Don’t let it slip through our fingers. Add your picture to Crustacean Compassion’s selfie wall now!
Crustacean Compassion is an award-winning animal welfare organisation dedicated to the humane treatment of decapod crustaceans. They are a group of animal welfare professionals who are shocked by the inhumane treatment of crabs, lobsters, prawns and crayfish, particularly in the food industry, given what is now known about their sentience. They founded the organisation when they heard that crabs were being sold alive fully immobilised in shrinkwrap in UK supermarkets, and that the RSPCA were powerless to act as the animals are not covered by the Animal Welfare Act 2006. It is also legal, and commonplace, in the UK for crustaceans to be boiled or dismembered/cut while still alive.
Inhumane Slaughter Methods
All of the following methods have been described as inhumane by the EU’s Animal Health and Welfare Scientific Panel:
Live boiling. During this process lobsters and crabs thrash, try to escape, and shed their limbs, known to be a sign of stress. Crustaceans, unlike us and other animals, are not able to go into shock and lose consciousness to protect themselves from extreme pain. A crab can take 3 minutes to die in boiling water.
Chilling in the freezer/ice slurry before live boiling. There is no evidence to suggest that this induces anaesthesia rather than just paralysis. Roth and Øines find that chilling is often slow and ineffective. Keeping live lobsters on ice has been banned in Switzerland and Italy. (Roth, B. and Øines, S., 2010. Stunning and killing of edible crabs (Cancer pagurus), Animal Welfare, Volume 19, Number 3, August 2010 , pp. 287-294(8). Universities Federation for Animal Welfare)
Live carving / dismemberment. Whilst some uses of the knife may be more humane than others (see the RSPCA’s guide), it is vital that the correct nerve chains are severed quickly. In particular, lobsters must be severed lengthways all the way down the body. All too often this is not the case, with chefs claiming splitting the head of a chilled lobster kills him instantly. This method is highly likely to cause pain – even if the animals have been previously chilled to a torpor.
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Crustacean Compassion engage with legislators and policy makers to strengthen and enforce animal welfare law and policy. They work to persuade and enable companies to sell higher welfare products across their shellfish product ranges. And they seek to educate both the public and policy makers on the science of decapod crustacean sentience and on their humane treatment and care.
Sign Crustacean Compassion’s petition to get crustaceans included in the Animal Welfare Act 2006! This would mean that anyone farming them, storing them or slaughtering them must abide by basic animal welfare rules – providing enough food, decent water quality, protection from pain and suffering, and humane slaughter methods.
Other countries including New Zealand, Austria, Norway and Switzerland include decapod crustaceans in their animal welfare legislation in the food preparation and restaurant trade. Their decisions are based on scientific evidence of the animals’ ability to feel pain and suffer, dating as far back as the 1990s; and they have largely taken a common sense approach to prevent unnecessary suffering where doubt still exists. For example:
the sale of live creatures to the general public is prohibited
chefs or other slaughterers must have a certificate of competence and prevent unnecessary suffering
decapods must be appropriately housed, in good quality water
they must be cared for in a way which prevents injuries and disease
their conditions must allow for ‘species-specific behaviour’
Until decapod crustaceans are included under the definition of ‘animal’ in welfare legislation, the UK government is not obliged to draw up guidelines for their humane slaughter. This means that even where restaurants and supermarkets want to do the right thing*, it’s not easy to find guidance.
UPDATE: The result of Defra’s independent review of decapod sentience is due imminently, and the outcome will be crucial for moving towards legislation. Crustacean Compassion are working hard to prepare. The best thing you can do right now is make sure you’re following their social media channels, like and share their posts (Crustacean Compassion Facebook and @crab_welfare Twitter) and are subscribed to their emails (sign up via their website) so that as soon as they release their action you are ready to take part! Keep an eye out as once Defra release their outcome, they’ll need you immediately!
As Venus climbed out of the tank her first thought was to share what she’d found with Adi and Jean and tell them her plan. Her subsequent thoughts were not so pleasant.
Ten minutes later:
to be continued ……
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“Ok, well,” Carolyn smiled, “while we’re up here I want to show you the top of the tank where the divers, and the fish, go in.”
Venus could see and hear William’s distress. She could only imagine the misery he went through every time he was transported from Scotland to the south coast and back again. But she couldn’t help him. Carolyn was soon ushering them on.
When the fish container was pulled out of the lift, Carolyn, Katie and Venus descended to the viewing gallery:
to be continued ….
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vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans, art, comics, juvenile fiction, watercolour
Violet's Vegan Comics 