Snail farming (heliciculture) is growing globally, but welfare standards for farmed snails are almost nonexistent. Emerging evidence of invertebrate sentience raises important questions about how they are raised and killed.
Farmed snails occupy a neglected frontier of animal welfare. Their capacity for pain and suffering is debated, but evidence of nociception and stress responses warrants precautionary concern. The killing methods commonly used — boiling water, salt dehydration, freezing — are potentially inhumane if snails experience pain. Better welfare in heliciculture begins with appropriate density, substrate quality, and humidity management during rearing, and with investigation of more humane slaughter methods. As the consumption of molluscs grows and the science of invertebrate sentience advances, welfare standards for snail farming will need to catch up with ethical expectations.