Wild Animal Suffering...and why it matters

In this 20 minute video, a logical case is presented for reducing the suffering of wild animals. Like farmed animals, wild animals are also in need of our help, but this is an issue that many animal advocates haven’t given much consideration.

Suffering often outweighs happiness in the lives of wild animals as a result of malnutrition, disease, human impact, and more. It is possible to reduce wild animal suffering by rescuing and treating sick or injured animals. Humans intervene in nature to reduce our own suffering, and wild animals are owed the same moral consideration.

Both vegans and meat-eaters often engage in the appeal to nature fallacy. Our idea of what is natural or unnatural is arbitrary, yet an appeal to nature is often used to justify things we would otherwise view as immoral or unjust, including wild animal suffering.

Welfare is the net value of an individual's subjective experience, which may also be called happiness or wellbeing. Wild animal welfare may be quantified by considering scale (the number of wild animals) and intensity. The Wild Animal Initiative is currently focused on building capacity to advance wild animal welfare.

The reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park has been celebrated by many, but did this intervention make the world a better place?

In this 22 minute video, Mal Graham of the Wild Animal Initiative explains basic concepts of evolutionary biology and how these concepts shape our understanding of wild animal welfare. They field questions and objections and call for more research on the subject.

Humane Hancock discusses the ethical implications of rewilding, replicating ecosystems on other planets, and simulations. Rewilding as practiced today often increases wild animal suffering while space colonization and simulations have potential to increase suffering without due moral consideration.

Which entities deserve moral consideration? Ecocentrism values the preservation of ecosystems as a whole without regard for the wellbeing of individuals in them, whereas biocentrism values the wellbeing of all living beings. Arguments both for and against ecocentrism and biocentrism are presented.

In this half hour video, Humane Hancock discusses potential solutions to wild animal suffering. Topics include vaccinations against disease, fertility control to prevent starvation, and genetic engineering. He presents several examples of each method which have already been employed as well as objections to such methods.

The most common causes of wild animal suffering are starvation, disease, injuries and lack of shelter. Several methods to help wild animals are presented and examples are given, including treatment and prevention of disease, treatment of injuries, caring for orphaned animals and providing suitable shelter and other resources.

Humane Hancock sits down with fellow Youtuber Cosmic Skeptic for a long-form conversation on the issue of wild animal suffering. If we have a moral obligation to be vegan, do we also have a moral obligation to help wild animals? Their conversation touches on philosophy, environmentalism and biodiversity, and human overpopulation.

Oscar Horta, professor of philosophy and one of the founders of Animal Ethics, speaks to the London School of Economics on the topic of wild animal suffering. He discusses current efforts to help wild animals, why it matters, and highlights new areas of research into welfare biology. Raising awareness is a key way to advance the movement.

In this 21 minute video, Humane Hancock looks critically at David Attenborough's work and philosophy. The ecosystems which Attenborough calls “perfect” are in fact changing all the time, and his documentaries contribute to our skewed perception of nature and the lives of wild animals.