Lobsters now have to be stunned before being killed (Picture: Getty Images)

Switzerland has made it illegal to throw live lobsters into boiling water to kill them.

The practice of boiling lobsters alive is common in seafood restaurants around the world, and stems from the belief that the crustaceans can’t feel pain.

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However, scientists are increasingly agreeing with animal rights advocates that crustaceans’ nervous systems are sophisticated and complex enough for them to feel immense pain when boiled alive.

As part of a major overhaul of animal protection laws, Bern has now said that ‘the practice of plunging live lobsters into boiling water, which is common in restaurants, is no longer permitted’.




From March 1 this year, the government order said, lobsters ‘will now have to be stunned before they are put to death’.

Traditionally, lobsters are boiled alive (Picture: Getty Images)

According to Swiss public broadcaster RTS, the only acceptable methods of stunning the animals will be electric shock or the ‘mechanical destruction’ of teh lobster’s brain.

The Swiss government also said that people will be forbidden from transporting live marine crustaceans, such as lobsters and crabs, on ice or in icy water.

Instead, they should ‘always be held in their natural environment’.