~~~~please cross post~~~~
(I find this letter even more deeply disturbing than the Tom Walkom article. There are so many holes in this argument, and offensive statements it really makes you question the humanity of some people in power.)

Boiling lobsters could be prosecuted under C-10B: Senator Furey
By Paco Francoli

OTTAWA--It could be a crime to boil lobsters if the government's cruelty to animals bill is proclaimed in its current form, says the chair of the Senate's Rules and Constitutional Affairs Committee Grit Senator George Furey, who declares that the legislation is so vague it could open the door to a host of new offences.

Liberal Senator George Furey (Newfoundland and Labrador), whose committee is in the final days of its study of Bill C-10B, said expert testimony convinced him that the legislation must be amended because the wording is so vague it could include cephalopods, or molluscs with distinct tentacled heads, such as octopuses, squids, and cuttlefish.

"There was no definitive evidence on that but there was enough to show that if we didn't tidy that up there could be some vagueness there that could create problems," Sen. Furey told The Hill Times.

Sen. Furey could not say whether his committee will come down in favour of amending the bill, but made it clear he will be pushing for changes.

"My wish would be to tidy [the bill] up," he said, adding that the intent of the legislation is to increase the penalties for people who are abusive towards animals, not to create new offences. He said the current penalties under the Criminal Code are inadequate.

"It's possible there will be amendments but there will not be amendments that will diminish from or take away from the fact that the substance of this [bill] is to ensure that people are not cruel to animals and that, for people who are cruel, the punishment will increase significantly," he said.

Animal rights groups have been actively lobbying the Senate committee to move the bill along quickly, saying the new measures are long overdue. However, the bill, which was split in half last December by the Senate in a controversial move that remains unresolved, is on hold until Bill C-10A, dealing with the firearms registry, is passed by the House.

Bill C-10B represents the first serious attempt to update Canada's Criminal Code in more than 100 years when it comes to cruelty to animals.

The law will provide tougher penalties for those convicted of willful and unnecessary animal cruelty and neglect, increasing penalties to up to five years of jail time for an indictable offence. It will also give judges the power to ban offenders from owning animals or even residing with animals for as long as is deemed appropriate.

The Canadian Alliance MPs are against the bill because they claim it will allow farmers and others who use animals for commercial purposes to be prosecuted unfairly by animal rights groups.

Several of the witnesses the Senators have heard from made it clear that the wording of the bill needs to be cleaned up.

On Feb. 12, the committee heard from Dr. Shelly Adamo, from Dalhousie University's psychology department, who said the bill "is worded so vaguely that, at least as a scientist looking at it, it is possible that someone could think, for example, that boiling lobsters would be something that could be prosecuted."

On the same day, the committee also heard from Dr. Alexander Livingston, dean of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine. Here is some of that testimony:

Quebec Tory Sen. Pierre-Claude Nolin: I have one last question on the famous lobster. My colleagues have not told you, but I raised the question of lobster in the Chamber. Do they feel pain?

Dr. Adamo: I do not think so, but I cannot tell you for sure. I would say no.

Quebec Liberal Sen. Yves Morin: They are not vertebrates.

Sen. Nolin: Is it uninformed to say lobsters feel pain?

Dr. Ms. Adamo: They have good reflexes. They have some of the fastest escape reflexes in the animal kingdom because they have electrical synapses, unlike you, who have chemical synapses. Therefore, they will react vigorously and quickly, and they will do it without their main brain.

Sen. Nolin: Translate that for me.

Dr. Adamo: If a lobster can think, the only piece of tissue it thinks with is its main brain, in its head. You can remove that, seal up the hole with wax, and it will behave exactly the same way. Its escape reflex is independent of its brain. That is all you see when an animal is trying to escape from a pot.

Sen. Nolin: He is not trying to escape because he is feeling pain.

Dr. Adamo: No, he is trying to escape because he has a motor reflex that tells him to respond to the sensory stimulus in that way.

Liberal Sen. Serge Joyal: Just on that same issue of pain, clause 182.3 of the bill says, "negligently causes unnecessary pain, suffering or injury." "Injury" I understand. We cut a leg, for example. Our colleague, Sen. Nolin, has raised the issue of pain. What is "suffering" in terms of your own vocabulary? Do we need that word [in the bill]?

Dr. Livingston: You can suffer without pain -- for example, the suffering of isolation.

Sen. Morin: Your sheep would suffer, but it is not in pain.

Dr. Livingston: That is right. There may be suffering in same-sex groups of animals that want to engage in reproductive behaviour.

Sen. Morin: Should we leave in "suffering" [in the bill]?

Dr. Livingston: It bothers me.

Sen. Morin: If it bothers you, imagine what it does to us.

Dr. Livingston: If I were to be called as an expert witness in a court and asked whether an animal is suffering, I could give an opinion, but it would be perhaps a less convincing performance than if I were asked whether it is feeling pain.

Sen. Joyal: It is easier to prove pain than to prove suffering?

Sen. Morin: Your example of suffering would be the sheep in isolation, but that is not really the intent of the proposed legislation.

Dr. Livingston: I assume it is not the intent.

The Hill Times

© April 7, 2003 The Hill Times
A. Gibson
Toronto Coalition for Anticruelty Legislation (Bill C10 AKA Bill C15b)
anne@anticruelty.ca
http://www.anticruelty.ca
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.
In fact, it's the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead