Morrisons sparks fury for selling octopuses for 36p ‘We don’t deserve this world!’

Charity worker and vegan, Justin Webb, 46, was horrified when he spotted four octopuses in Morrisons’ reduced to clear section for just 36p each. The discovery was made in an Eccles store of Tuesday evening 20 minutes before closing time. Mr Webb was left heartbroken by the sight, and snapped a picture of one of the creatures, posting it to Twitter along with the caption: “36 pence for a dead baby octopus, one of the most amazing creatures to ever swim the seas. I swear we do not deserve this world.”

The octopus, which weighed just 176g, had previously been up for sale for £1.41, but staff reduced the price by 75 percent to try and sell the octopus before its expiry date.

Mr Webb added: “We should be angry. The poor thing was priced at £1.41 to start with, which is offensive in the extreme for a living wild creature, to then see it marked down adds insult to injury.

“It shows the human disregard for life. We’ve moved her from her home to the rubbish bin. It’s unforgivable.

“These are beautiful, sentient creatures and you wouldn’t do that to dogs or cats.”

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Christian Wakeford, Conservative MP for Bury South, has backed the foundation’s Sentience Bill campaign, saying he was “proud” to stand on the 2019 manifesto commitment to bring in new laws on animal welfare, as “animals are sentient beings and have feelings”. 

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “We have already commissioned an independent external review of the available scientific evidence on sentience in the class Cephalopoda, which includes octopus, cuttlefish and squid — and we will carefully consider the results of this review.”

A Morrisons spokesperson said: “While we try to manage our stock to customer demands, it is not always possible. Occasionally and as a last resort- to ensure that food that is fit for consumption is not wasted- we do provide an extremely limited number of price reductions.”