Crayfish display complex behaviours and physiological stress responses raising significant questions about their capacity to suffer. Their welfare in trapping and trade is largely unregulated.
The evidence for crayfish sentience is stronger than for most invertebrates. They display motivational trade-offs and show signs of negative affective states. Trapping can injure claws and antennae. Live boiling - a common culinary practice - may cause suffering lasting many seconds. The welfare case for pre-stunning before killing crayfish parallels that for lobsters. Invasive signal crayfish are controlled by trapping and killing, often without welfare considerations.