Did Cornish and Dorset Friends make a connection to one of their own recently when a research story proclaimed that lobsters feel pain?

There's a fascinating historical tale here. When a professor at Belfast University ran a trial to discover if crustaceans felt pain - and concluded that they did - Friends House library staff sniffed a Quaker link to this. Past tracts were scrutinised, and sure enough, one was found from the early 19th century illuminating the Quaker concern for cruelty to lobsters. We are not completely sure - the records don’t actually explain the links - but it seems that a convinced Quaker Anna Forster (formerly Buxton) set up a petition and consumer boycott of lobsters caught on the west coast of the country which had their claws pegged in a rather barbaric manner. Anna had lived both in Weymouth (where the petition was printed) and Cornwall and her name is handwritten on the tract which urged the public not to buy lobsters so treated. A past archivist obviously knew of her involvement.

The Cornish lobsters appeared to have been treated differently to those from other parts, where the creatures had their claws tied. This, said the petition, was a more humane method. Eye feels compelled to point out the flawed logic here. Treat them better until you kill them to eat.

Labels: lobster