Revision as of 14:24, 29 August 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, as well as showing a practical and reasonable means of solving.

Scope of wild animal suffering

Animals on factory farms suffer immensely, being forced into cramped cages, mutilated, artificially inseminated, having their babies stolen, suffer grotesque infections, and suffer immense psychological torture on top of that. The suffering felt by the animals on these farms is 100% certain, absolute, and has various practical means of being solved (Veganism, animal welfare laws, activism). Wild animals often suffer too; Being eaten alive by predators,

The questions are: Are there more animals suffering than not in the wild compared to animals, is there enough suffering to warrant doing something, and what can be done about it?

Basic ecology tells us that in any given ecosystem, prey are much more common than their predators (as explained by the second law of thermodynamics)

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 humans feel good when we accomplish something useful.

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 may 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.

Wild Animal Happiness

It isn't fair to only focus on the suffering and completely ignoring the fact that animals experience happiness too. Animals are not robots that act only on instinct.

Climate Change

Probably the most valid concern for wild animal suffering, is the effects that climate change will have on them. While of course the vast majority of the damage from climate change will be on humans (particularly those in the Global South), the increased heat will not bode well for most wild animals, especially mammals. The heat that's coming will, if not kill them, cause them great amounts of harm and suffering. See, the Earth's climate is always changing, but this is over the course of thousands, sometimes millions of years. This gradualness gives animals the opportunity to adapt to their environments.

What can be done as of right now?

While solving wild animal suffering as a whole is not a practical or reasonable goal at this point in time, there are a few things we can do in the meantime to reduce their suffering as much as we can.

For one, getting rid of certain parasites, such as mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, and various parastic worms, would be a huge net positive, not just for humans, but for animals. These parasites are not ecologically significant, they only just cause misery and discomfort, and this is something we can easily do to reduce suffering, and it would also help humans and our animal companions.

And of course, doing everything we can to reduce climate change would be a big help, as discussed earlier. Along with going vegan, there are tons of things we can do individually to reduce our impact on the climate, which will not only help out humans, but reduce the effects it will have on virtually all animals.