What Do We Owe the Octopus?
www.wired.com
Mounting research suggests that cephalopods experience pain. Now, the National Institutes of Health is considering new animal welfare rules that would put them in the same category as monkeys.
  • @Ashyr
    5•3 months ago

    I’ve been watching Survivor and there’s a season where they hunt cephalopods and it just made me sick. I ended up fast forwarding.

    No need to slowly torture such intelligent creatures to death for a faux survival situation.

  • @[email protected]
    5•3 months ago

    Commercial octopus farms are known to struggle that their octopuses escaping, bcs they’re aware being confined. Not sure their business can keep going.

  • anon6789
    1•3 months ago

    Very interesting article with some good opinions from various researchers.

    The part about how we’re not even sure how to interpret their responses to what would cause or relive pain was very thought provoking. We have a fairly good understanding of vertebrates, but in creatures so physiologically different, we don’t always know what is effective to mitigate any suffering.

    I agree with the person saying at this point we should treat anything with a central nervous system as able to feel and understand pain.

    If we are using these creatures’ involuntary sacrifice to our benefit, we should be providing the best treatment we can to them. As part of training at my old job to gain badge access to the animal research areas, we learned about the regulations regarding these animals, and it seems cephalopods are worthy or the same care.

    Thank you for sharing this article. It was a good read and has given me a lot to think about.