"Speaking to whether reptiles or fish experience pain"...
So vertabrates definitely have pain receptors. It stands to reason they experience pain, at the very least.
I wonder if there are still people who doubt this.
So vertabrates definitely have pain receptors. It stands to reason they experience pain, at the very least.
I wonder if there are still people who doubt this.
I've fished. Never felt great about it. But most fish at the fresh water angler level can be caught and released without mortal wounds.
It's hard to reconcile that you'd be willing to rip an animal from the sea to kill and eat it, or just for the fun of it, but also care about the animal though to conduct some insane little ritual of pouring soft drink on the wound you created to try and help it survive.
I doubt the knowledge of consciousness, pain, or any other harm caused by hunting or fishing would dissuade most that do it regularly (in my anecdotal experience)
And yeah, there are people even today that flatly deny that nonhuman animals have any form of subjective experience, even dogs.