Scott Norvell notes that a small Italian town has banned lobster.

City officials in a town in Northern Italy have passed animal rights legislation that essentially bans the boiling of live lobsters as "useless torture," reports the Daily Telegraph.

The new law, passed in the town of Reggio Emilia near Bologna, also requires "sociable" birds to be kept in pairs, regulates the size of bird cages, makes it illegal to keep a goldfish in a round glass bowl and requires owners to ensure that each pet sharing a meal gets an equal portion.

The law also mandates non-slip surfaces in bird cages so that birds don't accidentally fall down. It passed 22 to 1.