Arhnue Tan
May 26, 2021Animal Law & Policy ClinicOctopuses Not Recognized As Animals According To Welfare Act Dictating Lab Treatment
“Under existing law, cephalopods are not required to be provided with “the appropriate use of tranquilizers, analgesics, anesthetics, paralytics and euthanasia” or “appropriate pre-surgical and post-surgical veterinary medical and nursing care,” wrote clinical fellow Kate Barnekow of the Animal Law & Policy Program.
Our clinical fellow Kate Barnekow explains to Rachael Funnel of IFLScience why octopuses aren’t considered “animals” when it comes to their treatment in federally funded research, what that means for them, and what we are doing to stop that.
“Under existing law, cephalopods are not required to be provided with “the appropriate use of tranquilizers, analgesics, anesthetics, paralytics and euthanasia” or “appropriate pre-surgical and post-surgical veterinary medical and nursing care,” says Barnekow.
You can read the full article in IFLScience, which includes details of our petition to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to include cephalopods (octopus, squid and cuttlefish) among the animals entitled to humane treatment in federally funded research.