The situation of wild animals

The situation of wild animals

Questions

How many wild animals are there?
  • Which, if any, are (affectively) sentient or can suffer?
What are the lives of wild animals like?
  • How good are they? How bad are they?
  • Are there some wild animals whose lives are ‘not worth living’?
What are the biggest sources of suffering in nature? How can we tell?
  • Do wild animals suffer from the same kinds of experiences as humans?

Reading

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Animal Ethics, Criteria for recognizing sentience, and What beings are conscious? (15 mins)
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Animal Ethics, The situation of animals in the wild (10 mins)
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(Optional) P. Low et al., The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness (5 mins)
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(Optional) Y. M. Bar-On et. al., The biomass distribution on Earth (25 mins)
  • NB. biomass is difficult to convert to number of individuals

Next in the Wild Animal Welfare Curriculum

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