Be kind to bees

Lobsters and other invertebrates feel no pain says a new report looking at welfare implications of everything from cooking live crabs and lobsters to keeping bees. But be good to your bees!

Professor Wenche Farstad of the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science in Oslo says:

honeybees deserve special care because they display social behaviour and a capacity to learn and cooperate. But invertebrates do not feel pain because they have basic nervous systems and small brains.

...Peter Fraser, a marine biologist at the University of Aberdeen, says crabs and lobsters have only about 100,000 neurons, compared with 100bn in people and other vertebrates. While this allows them to react to threatening stimuli, he said there is no evidence they feel pain.