Animal Welfare (Boiling of Live Crustaceans Ban) Bill

A

BILL

TO

Ban the boiling of live crustaceans, and for connected purposes.

BE IT ENACTED by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

Section 1: Interpretations

(1) For the purposes of this Act, “crustacean” means any animal that is a member of the crustacean Sub-phylum.

(2) For the purposes of this Act, “an officer of the body corporate” refers to—

(a) A director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, and

(b) any person purporting to act in any such capacity.

Section 2: Ban on boiling of live crustaceans

It is an offence to boil or otherwise cook a crustacean for any purpose, including consumption, unless the crustacean is unconscious or deceased.

Where a body corporate is guilty of an offence under Section 2(1), and— (a) the offence was committed with the consent or knowledge of an officer of the body corporate, or

(b) the offence can be linked to any negligence on the part of the officer, then that officer, as well as the body corporate, is guilty of an offence.

Section 3: Exemptions

1. It is not an offence to cook or otherwise boil a crustacean in a residential setting.

Section 4: Extent, commencement, and short title

(1) This Act extends to England.

(2) The provisions of this Act shall come into force 6 months after the day this Act is given the Royal Assent.

(3) This Act may be cited as the Animal Welfare (Boiling of Live Crustaceans Ban) Act.

This Bill was submitted by The Rt Hon The Countess of Loppington OM CT CB CVO MBE PC on behalf of Coalition!

Opening Speech - cocoiadrop

Deputy Speaker,

I present to this House a piece of legislation designed to further enhance our animal welfare legislation and recognise the ways in which we have ignored potential areas for improvement. The boiling of live lobsters -- and other crustaceans -- is common place throughout the world, however, it is impossible to ignore that this presents the same moral issues as cooking any other animal alive as prohibited in legislation already.

Belfast Queen’s University Dr Robert Elwood has studied the effects of pain and how animals such as lobsters react to pain in comparison to other animals for the past decade. Pain is not something that can be measured in the same way we would report on a scale of 0 to 10 pain to our GP. We cannot just ask the lobster if it hurts when we boil them alive. However, we can conclude that animals such as lobsters react to pain, attempt to avoid painful stimuli, and despite not having the same brain or nervous structure as mammals, still feel some sense of it. It is on this basis that we must reconsider our treatment of lobsters and put them on the same level as any other animal and not put them through the pain of being boiled alive.

This legislation would ban the boiling or otherwise cooking of lobsters and other animals of their classes and make it an offense. For fans of the show Futurama, Hooray for Zoidberg!

AMENDMENT 1 (A01)

Add new section:
Section (number appropriately) exceptions:
(1) it is not an offence to cook or otherwise boil a crustacean in a commercial setting.

​

AMENDMENT 2 (A02)

Add new section:
Section (number appropriately) exceptions:
(number appropriate) it is not an offence to cook or otherwise boil a crustacean in a residential setting.

Both amendments were submitted by The Earl of Rayleigh

NOTE: If both amendments pass in this case the one which receives the most support gets included

Lords may Vote Content, Not Content, or Present on the proposed amendments

Vote on the proposed amendments by the 14th December at 10pm GMT