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Population Dynamics Meets Animal Ethics: The Case for Aiding Animals in Nature

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Ethical and Political Approaches to Nonhuman Animal Issues

Abstract

In his chapter, Oscar Horta outlines that according to a widespread view, nonhuman animals live happy lives in the wild. The truth, he points out however, differs significantly from this. Population dynamics and other findings in biology show that most animals live extremely short and hard lives, and never survive to maturity. Evidence suggests that their lives typically contain more suffering than positive wellbeing. If we reject a speciesist viewpoint, Horta argues, this gives us strong reasons to try to help nonhuman animals in need of aid in nature, even if that conflicts with anthropocentric or environmentalist aims. There are examples of this currently taking place, and further research may significantly increase our capacity to act. To achieve this we need to challenge the view that animals in the wild do not need to be aided.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    On the sentience of nonhuman animals in general, see Allen, 1998; Griffin, 2001; Gregory, 2004; Broom, 2014; on the sentience of animals who typically reproduce by laying very large numbers of eggs, see Smith, 1991; Mather, 2001; Sneddon, 2004; Braithwaite, 2010.

  2. 2.

    Other theorists who have also argued in favor of intervening in nature with some restrictions and without questioning the idyllic view of nature include Næss, 1991; Kirkwood, Sainsbury & Bennett, 1994; Kirkwood & Sainsbury, 1996; Bovenkerk, et al., 2003; Hadley, 2006; Palmer, 2010; Donaldson & Kymlicka, 2011.

  3. 3.

    Note that these arguments are widely accepted among animal ethicists (see for instance Sapontzis, 1987, Pluhar, 1995; Bernstein, 1998, 2015; Cavalieri, 2001; Horta, 2010b; Aaltola, 2012).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Oscar Horta

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  1. Oscar Horta
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Correspondence to Oscar Horta .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Independent Researcher, Huntly, Aberdeenshire, United Kingdom

    Andrew Woodhall

  2. Department of Philosophy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

    Gabriel Garmendia da Trindade

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Horta, O. (2017). Population Dynamics Meets Animal Ethics: The Case for Aiding Animals in Nature. In: Woodhall, A., Garmendia da Trindade, G. (eds) Ethical and Political Approaches to Nonhuman Animal Issues. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54549-3_16

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