"Invertebrate rights" has become a campaigning issue. Advocates for Animals recently produced a report which concludes that there is "potential for experiencing pain and suffering" in crustaceans. The group is particularly concerned about boiling lobsters alive. The wider public is also showing interest. Research supposedly demonstrating that hermit crabs feel and remember pain received worldwide news coverage (Animal Behaviour, vol 77, p 1243).The long discussion that follows in the comments is worth scanning too. I have always wondered the same thing about fish. But it has always been kind of hard to talk too much out loud about that in Newfoundland where even in my lifetime the economy once centered on fish.
And if you grant certain rights to lobsters and crabs, can spiders, ants and other insects be not far behind? What about that mosquito I squished last night as it was sucking my blood?
Should we grant rights to organisms that have no concept of the notion and who would just as quickly eat us if given half a chance? Food for thought... as long as I am not the food.
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