Difference between revisions of "Wild Animal Suffering"
(Created page with "As animal rights activists, we should be focusing on helping all animals, not just the ones that are abused by humans. No doubt, animals in the wild do experience their share...") |
|||
| Line 2: | Line 2: | ||
No doubt, animals in the wild do experience their share of suffering, but in order for it to be considered as a cause of concern for animal rights activists in this point in time, it has to be demonstrated to be significant enough to dedicate the respective amount of resources towards it. | No doubt, animals in the wild do experience their share of suffering, but in order for it to be considered as a cause of concern for animal rights activists in this point in time, it has to be demonstrated to be significant enough to dedicate the respective amount of resources towards it. | ||
| + | |||
| + | The view that Wild Animal Suffering is just as bad if not even moreso than Farm Animal suffering is a very tall claim to make, and currently, one that lacks any empirical evidence. Yes, there are far more animals living in the wild than on factory farms (even excluding invertebrates), but that does not mean the total aggregate suffering felt by them exceeds or necessarily even comes close to the suffering on factory farms. In the wild, animals aren't locked up in cages and are free to decide where they live and who to mate with, and aren't in a constant state of suffering and fear. | ||
| + | |||
| + | One of the most underestimated problems animals on factory farms face is boredom. Being cramped in cages all day for months leaves nothing to do, and they tend to go stir crazy as a result(which is the main reason why Chickens are debeaked). Boredom evolved as a way to motivate us to do something (and since humans in developed countries don't need to worry about dealing with the elements or getting their next meal, it's an incredibly common problem), and animals in the wild are always free to do things, and thus are constantly keeping busy. They're either resting, hunting, keeping an eye out for predators, foraging, caring for family and friends, raising offspring, eating, sleeping, building or finding shelter, migrating and traveling, playing, searching for food and water, finding mates, mating, and a million other things that can be listed. Working hard all the time may be arduous, but that does not automatically mean suffering. When the work is rewarding and engaging, it produces positive feelings for the animals, similar to how us humans feel good when we accomplish something useful to us. | ||
| + | |||
| + | All in all, they're ''adapted'' to their environments, and don't usually stray too far from them. Evolution has been pretty effective in sculpting species that are fit to thrive in their environments; Given that 99% of species that have ever lived are now extinct for one reason or another (OK maybe evolution is a little less than effective), the ones that are around now and have been alive for a while give us good reason to believe they've been doing very well for themselves. Humans have a hard time living in cold and dry climates because we didn't evolve to live in them, which is why we need shelter and clothing in order to be able to live in these environments. Animals that have evolved to live in cold climates, such as polar bears and snow leopards can deal with it much better than ones that have lived in hot climates, such as coyotes and camals. | ||
Some many point to animals like tadpoles and other non-mammals being killed in mass quantities, but these examples tend to be on the lower end of sentience, meaning their deaths don't automatically add up to the high levels of suffering experienced by animals on factory farms. It's sort of like how carnists will all of a sudden pretend to care about the animals killed in crop harvesting, convienently ignoring that it's mainly killing animals of little sentience (insects) and that far more animals are killed in the harvesting of crops for livestock, as well as the clearing of land for the farms and grazing. | Some many point to animals like tadpoles and other non-mammals being killed in mass quantities, but these examples tend to be on the lower end of sentience, meaning their deaths don't automatically add up to the high levels of suffering experienced by animals on factory farms. It's sort of like how carnists will all of a sudden pretend to care about the animals killed in crop harvesting, convienently ignoring that it's mainly killing animals of little sentience (insects) and that far more animals are killed in the harvesting of crops for livestock, as well as the clearing of land for the farms and grazing. | ||
Revision as of 01:06, 22 March 2023
As animal rights activists, we should be focusing on helping all animals, not just the ones that are abused by humans.
No doubt, animals in the wild do experience their share of suffering, but in order for it to be considered as a cause of concern for animal rights activists in this point in time, it has to be demonstrated to be significant enough to dedicate the respective amount of resources towards it.
The view that Wild Animal Suffering is just as bad if not even moreso than Farm Animal suffering is a very tall claim to make, and currently, one that lacks any empirical evidence. Yes, there are far more animals living in the wild than on factory farms (even excluding invertebrates), but that does not mean the total aggregate suffering felt by them exceeds or necessarily even comes close to the suffering on factory farms. In the wild, animals aren't locked up in cages and are free to decide where they live and who to mate with, and aren't in a constant state of suffering and fear.
One of the most underestimated problems animals on factory farms face is boredom. Being cramped in cages all day for months leaves nothing to do, and they tend to go stir crazy as a result(which is the main reason why Chickens are debeaked). Boredom evolved as a way to motivate us to do something (and since humans in developed countries don't need to worry about dealing with the elements or getting their next meal, it's an incredibly common problem), and animals in the wild are always free to do things, and thus are constantly keeping busy. They're either resting, hunting, keeping an eye out for predators, foraging, caring for family and friends, raising offspring, eating, sleeping, building or finding shelter, migrating and traveling, playing, searching for food and water, finding mates, mating, and a million other things that can be listed. Working hard all the time may be arduous, but that does not automatically mean suffering. When the work is rewarding and engaging, it produces positive feelings for the animals, similar to how us humans feel good when we accomplish something useful to us.
All in all, they're adapted to their environments, and don't usually stray too far from them. Evolution has been pretty effective in sculpting species that are fit to thrive in their environments; Given that 99% of species that have ever lived are now extinct for one reason or another (OK maybe evolution is a little less than effective), the ones that are around now and have been alive for a while give us good reason to believe they've been doing very well for themselves. Humans have a hard time living in cold and dry climates because we didn't evolve to live in them, which is why we need shelter and clothing in order to be able to live in these environments. Animals that have evolved to live in cold climates, such as polar bears and snow leopards can deal with it much better than ones that have lived in hot climates, such as coyotes and camals.
Some many point to animals like tadpoles and other non-mammals being killed in mass quantities, but these examples tend to be on the lower end of sentience, meaning their deaths don't automatically add up to the high levels of suffering experienced by animals on factory farms. It's sort of like how carnists will all of a sudden pretend to care about the animals killed in crop harvesting, convienently ignoring that it's mainly killing animals of little sentience (insects) and that far more animals are killed in the harvesting of crops for livestock, as well as the clearing of land for the farms and grazing.
