A recent article in the Guardian by UK-based philosopher Johnathon Birch discusses a new bill introduced to the the UK parliament that aims to declare vertebrate animals sentient, but also allows for the case-by-case inclusion of invertebrates into the law. The article describes our recent publication on affective pain experience on octopus, and suggests that sentience in invertebrates may be a widespread phenomenon.
Improving welfare of cephalopods in research, captive settings and fisheries is a major goal and broader impact of our lab’s work, and we look forward to seeing further discussion of the mounting evidence that cephalopods deserve regulatory protection both inside and outside of research labs.