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𧑠Special thanks to @Johannes Pichler for creating and maintaining this resource page. (Last updated September 2025)
π Reasons against prioritizing Wild Animals
- βPositive Wild Animal Welfareβ - Heather Browning
- Paper on the topic: Positive Wild Animal Welfare - Heather Browning & Walter Veit
- Notes on βPositive Wild Animal Welfareβ - Heather Browning by Johannes Pichler
- Wildlife suffering β wildlife intervention?
- Most wild animals are happy most of the time!
- A summary: why life in the wilderness is better than in a technological mass society
- Wilderness and wild animal suffering (again!)
- Martin Balluch: Self-determination and an autonomous life: the basic right for nonhuman animals (With following discussion (Q&A) with Stijn Bruers)
- We probably shouldn't do anything (drastic) about wild animal suffering - Emerson Green (Critical video on wildlife suffering interventions)
- What Can We Do About Wild Animal Suffering? - Dustin Crummett (Response to Emerson Green's video)
- The right to live informed - Francesco De Giorgio [IARC2024]
π¦ Introduction to Wild Animal Suffering
Long-form and collections
- Wild Animal Welfare Commonplace (priority questions related to wild animal welfare)
- Taxonomy of Wild Animal Welfare Interventions
π Books
- Towards Welfare Biology: Evolutionary Economics of Animal Consciousness and Suffering - Yew-Kwang Ng, 1995
- River Out of Eden - Richard Dawkins, 1995
- Introduction to wild animal suffering - Animal Ethics, 2020
- Applied Ethics: An Impartial Introduction - Elizabeth Jackson,Β Tyron Goldschmidt,Β Dustin Crummett,Β Rebecca Chan, 2021
- Just Fodder: The Ethics of Feeding Animals - Josh Milburn, 2022
- On Our Moral Entanglements with Wild Animals - Gary David OβBrien, 2023
- Crossings - How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet - Ben Goldfarb, 2023
- Meet the Neighbors: Animal Minds and Life in a More-than-Human World - Brandon Keim, 2024
Articles
- 80.000 Hours - Wild Animal Suffering
- The Importance of Wild-Animal Suffering - Brian Tomasik
- Strategic considerations for effective wild animal suffering work - Animal Ethics
- Crucial Considerations in Wild Animal Suffering - Persis Eskander
- When Are We Obligated To Edit Wild Creatures? - Kevin Esvelt
- Wild Animal Suffering - Wikipedia
- Number distribution of vertebrates on earth
- Three preconditions for helping wild animals at scale - Rethink Priorities
Talks
- Thinking critically about wild animal suffering | Stijn Bruers | EAGxNetherlands 2018
- Moral illusions and wild animal suffering - Stijn Bruers
- Is being vegan the end goal? The moral blind spots in the animal rights community - Stijn Bruers
- Notes on Is being vegan the end goal? - Stijn Bruers by Johannes Pichler
- How evolution can help us understand wild animal welfare | Mal Graham
- Notes on How evolution can help us understand wild animal welfare - Mal Graham by Johannes Pichler
- Wild Animal Welfare Through the Lens of Population Ethics | Tim Campbell | EAGxNordics 2024
- Does Environmentalism Clash with Veganism? | Wild Animal Suffering -Β Catherine Klein
- Measuring And Understanding Peopleβs Attitudes Towards Wild Animal Welfare - Willem Sleegers
- Notes on Measuring And Understanding Peopleβs Attitudes Towards Wild Animal Welfare - Willem Sleegers by Johannes Pichler
πΒ Research around Wild Animal Suffering
Organisations
- Wild Animal Initiative
- Animal Ethics
- Rethink Priorities - Animal Welfare
- Animal Welfare Research β Research Area: Wild Animal Welfare
- NYU Wild Animal Welfare Program
- Faunalytics: Wild Animal Suffering
Libraries
Academic papers and resources
Aaltola, E. (2010) βAnimal ethics and the argument from absurdityβ,Β Environmental Values, 19, pp. 79-98.
Benatar, D. (2001) βWhy the naΓ―ve argument against moral vegetarianism really is naΓ―veβ,Β Environmental Values, 10, pp. 103-112.
Bovenkerk, B.; Stafleu, F. Tramper, R.; Vorstenbosch, J. & Brom, F. W. A. (2003) βTo act or not to act? Sheltering animals from the wild: A pluralistic account of a conflict between animal and environmental ethicsβ,Β Ethics, Place & Environment, 6, pp. 13-26.
Brown, J. (2006) βComparative endocrinology of domestic and nondomestic felidsβ,Β Theriogenology, 66, pp. 25-36.
Bruers, S. (2015) βThe predation and procreation problems: Persistent intuitions gone wildβ,Β Relations: Beyond Anthropocentrism, 3, pp. 85-91.
Carpendale, M. (2015) βWelfare biology as an extension of biology: Interview with Yew-Kwang Ngβ,Β Relations: Beyond Anthropocentrism, 3, pp. 197-202.
Clark, S. R. L. (1979) βThe rights of wild thingsβ,Β Inquiry, 22, pp. 171-188.
Clarke, M. & Ng, Y.-K. (2006) βPopulation dynamics and animal welfare: Issues raised by the culling of kangaroos in Puckapunyalβ,Β Social Choice and Welfare, 27, pp. 407-422.
Clement, G. (2003) βThe ethic of care and the problem of wild animalsβ,Β Between the Species, 13 (3).
Cowen, T. (2003) βPolicing natureβ,Β Environmental Ethics, 25, pp. 169-182.
Cripps, E. (2010) βSaving the polar bear, saving the world: Can the capabilities approach do justice to humans, animals and ecosystems?β,Β Res Publica, 16, pp. 1-22.
Cunha, L. C. (2015) βIf natural entities have intrinsic value, should we then abstain from helping animals who are victims of natural processes?β,Β Relations: Beyond Anthropocentrism, 3, pp. 51-53.
Darwin, C. (2018 [1860]) βLetter to Asa Grayβ,Β Darwin Correspondence Project Darwin.
Dawkins, R. (1995) βGodβs utility functionβ,Β Scientific American, 274, pp. 80-85.
Donaldson, S. & Kymlicka, W. (2011)Β Zoopolis: A political theory of animal rights, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dorado, D. (2015) βEthical interventions in the wild: An annotated bibliographyβ,Β Relations: Beyond Anthropocentrism, 3, pp. 219-238.
Ebert, R & Machan, T. R. (2012) βInnocent threats and the problem of carnivorous animalsβ,Β Journal of Applied Philosophy, 29, pp. 146-159.
Everett, J. (2001) βEnvironmental ethics, animal welfarism, and the problem of predation: A Bambi loverβs respect for natureβ,Β Ethics & the Environment, 6, pp. 42-67.
Faria, C. (2013) βDifferential obligations towards others in needβ,Β Astrolabio, 15, pp. 242-246.
ββββ (2015) βMaking a difference on behalf of animals living in the wild: Interview with Jeff McMahanβ,Β Relations: Beyond Anthropocentrism, 3, pp. 81-84.
ββββ (2016)Β Animal ethics goes wild: The problem of wild animal suffering and intervention in nature, Barcelona: Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
Faria, C. & Paez, E. (2015) βAnimals in need: The problem of wild animal suffering and intervention in natureβ,Β Relations: Beyond Anthropocentrism, 3, pp. 7-13.
Favre, D. S. (1978-1979) βWildlife rights: The ever-widening circleβ,Β Environmental Law, 9 (241), pp. 241-281.
Fink, C. K. (2005) βThe predation argumentβ,Β Between the species, 13 (5).
Garmendia, G. & Woodhall, A. (eds.) (2016)Β Intervention or protest: Acting for nonhuman animals, Wilmington: Vernon.
Gould, S. J. (1982) βNonmoral natureβ,Β Natural History, 91 (2), pp. 19-26.
Groff, Z., & Ng, K-W. (2019) βDoes Suffering Dominate Enjoyment in the Animal Kingdomβ, Biology & Philosophy 34(40) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-019-9692-0
Hadley, J. (2006) βThe duty to aid nonhuman animals in dire needβ,Β Journal of Applied Philosophy, 23, pp. 445-451.
Hailwood, S. (2012) βBewildering Nussbaum: Capability justice and predationβ,Β TheΒ Journal of Political Philosophy, 20, pp. 293-313.
Hettinger, N. (1994) βValuing predation in Rolstonβs environmental ethics: Bambi lovers versus tree huggersβ,Β Environmental Ethics, 16, pp. 1-10.
Hills, A. (2010) βUtilitarianism, contractualism and demandingnessβ,Β The Philosophical Quarterly, 60, pp. 225-242.
Horta, O. (2010a) βDebunking the idyllic view of natural processes: Population dynamics and suffering in the wildβ,Β TΓ©los, 17 (1), pp. 73-88.
ββββΒ (2010b) βDisvalue in nature and interventionβ,Β Pensata Animal, 34.
ββββΒ (2010c) βThe ethics of the ecology of fear against the nonspeciesist paradigm: A shift in the aims of intervention in natureβ,Β Between the Species, 13 (10), pp. 163-187.
ββββΒ (2013) βZoopolis, intervention, and the state or natureβ,Β Law, Ethics and Philosophy, 1, pp. 113-125.
ββββΒ (2015 [2011]) βThe problem of evil in nature: Evolutionary bases of the prevalence of disvalueβ,Β Relations: Beyond Anthropocentrism, 3, pp. 17-32.
ββββΒ (2016) βChanging attitudes towards animals in the wild and speciesismβ,Β Animal Sentience, 2016.092.
ββββΒ (2017a) βAnimal suffering in nature: The case for interventionβ,Β Environmental Ethics, 39, pp. 261-279.
ββββΒ (2017b) βPopulation dynamics meets animal ethicsβ, in Garmendia, G. & Woodhall, A. (eds.)Β Ethical and political approaches to nonhuman animal issues: Towards an undivided future, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 365-389.
ββββΒ (2018) βConcern for wild animal suffering and environmental ethics: What are the limits of the disagreement?β,Β Les Ateliers de lβΓthique/The Ethical Forum, 13, pp. 85-100
Hutchins, M. & Wemmer, C. (1986) βWildlife conservation and animal rights: Are they compatible?β, in Fox, M. W. & Mickley, L. D. (eds.)Β Advances in animal welfare science, 1986/87, Washington, D. C.: The Humane Society of the United States, pp. 111-137.
Jamieson, D. (1990) βRights, justice, and duties to provide assistance: A critique of Reganβs theory of rightsβ,Β Ethics, 100, pp. 349-362.
Johannsen, K. (2017) βAnimal rights and the problem of r-strategistsβ,Β Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 20, pp. 333-345.
Keulartz, J. (2016) βShould the lion eat straw like the ox? Animal ethics and the predation problemβ,Β Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 29, pp. 813-834.
Kirkwood, J. K. & Sainsbury, A. W. (1996) βEthics of interventions for the welfare of free-living wild animalsβ,Β Animal Welfare, 5, pp. 235-243.
Kirkwood, J. K.; Sainsbury, A. W. & Bennett, P. M. (1994) βThe welfare of free-living wild animals: Methods of assessmentβ,Β Animal Welfare, 3, pp. 257-273.
Knutsson, S. & Munthe, C. (2017) βA virtue of precaution regarding the moral status of animals with uncertain sentienceβ,Β Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 30, pp. 213-224.
Lauber, T. B.; Knuth, B. A.; Tantillo, J. A. & Curtis, P. D. (2007) βThe role of ethical judgments related to wildlife fertility controlβ,Β Society & Natural Resources, 20, pp. 119-133.
Mannino, A. (2015) βHumanitarian intervention in nature: Crucial questions and probable answersβ,Β Relations: Beyond Anthropocentrism, 3, pp. 109-120.
McMahan, J. (2015) βThe moral problem of predationβ, in Chignell, A.; Cuneo, T. & Halteman, M. (eds.)Β Philosophy comes to dinner: Arguments on the ethics of eating, London: Routledge.
Milburn, J. (2015) βRabbits, stoats and the predator problem: Why a strong animal rights position need not call for human intervention to protect prey from predatorsβ,Β Res Publica, 21, pp. 273-289.
Moen, O. M. (2016) βThe ethics of wild animal sufferingβ,Β Etikk i Praksis βΒ Nordic Journal of Applied Ethics, 10 (1), pp. 91-104.
Morris, M. C. & Thornhill, R. H. (2006) βAnimal liberationist responses to non-anthropogenic animal sufferingβ,Β Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology, 10, pp. 355-379.
Mosquera, J. (2015) βThe harm they inflict when values conflict: Why diversity does not matterβ,Β Relations: Beyond Anthropocentrism, 3, pp. 65-77.
Musschenga, A. W. (2002) βNaturalness: Beyond animal welfareβ,Β Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 15, pp. 171-186.
NΓ¦ss, A. (1991) βShould we try to relieve clear cases of extreme suffering in nature?β,Β Pan Ecology, 6 (1), 1-5.
Ng, Y.-K. (1995) βTowards welfare biology: Evolutionary economics of animal consciousness and sufferingβ,Β Biology and Philosophy, 10, pp. 255-285.
Nussbaum, M. C. (2006)Β Frontiers of justice: Disability, nationality, species membership, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Paez, E. (2015) βRefusing help and inflicting harm: A critique of the environmentalist viewβ,Β Relations: Beyond Anthropocentrism, 3, pp. 165-178.
Paez, E. (2015) βIntuitions gone astray: between implausibility and speciesism. βThe predation and procreation problemsβ: A replyβ,Β Relations: Beyond Anthropocentrism, 3, pp. 93-99.
Palmer, C. (2013) βWhat (if anything) do we owe wild animals?β,Β Between the Species, 16, pp. 15-38.
Pearce, D. (2015 [1995])Β The hedonistic imperative, Seattle: Amazon Digital Services.
ββββ (2015) βA welfare state for elephants? A case study of compassionate stewardshipβ,Β Relations: Beyond Anthropocentrism, 3, pp. 153-164.
ββββ (2017)Β Can biotechnology abolish suffering?, Jacksonville: The Neuroethics Foundation.
Raterman, T. (2008) βAn environmentalistβs lament on predationβ,Β Environmental Ethics, 30, pp. 417-434.
Rosinger, D. & Singer, P. (1973) βFood for thoughtβ,Β TheΒ New York Review of Books, June 14.
Ryf, P. (2016)Β Environmental ethics: The case of wild animals, Basel: University of Basel.
Sagoff, M. (1984) βAnimal liberation and environmental ethics: Bad marriage, quick divorceβ,Β OsgoodeΒ Hall Law Journal, 22, pp. 297-307.
Sapontzis, S. F. (1984) βPredationβ,Β Ethics and Animals, 5, pp. 27-38.
ββββ (1987)Β Morals, reason and animals, Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Simmons, A. (2009) βAnimals, predators, the right to life and the duty to save livesβ,Β Ethics & the Environment, 14, pp. 15-27.
Soryl, A. et al. (2021) βThe Case for Welfare Biologyβ, Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics,
SΓΆzmen, B. Δ°. (2013) βHarm in the wild: Facing non-human suffering in natureβ,Β Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 16, pp. 1075-1088.
Tomasik, B. (2015 [2009]) βThe importance of wild animal sufferingβ,Β Relations: Beyond Anthropocentrism, 3, pp. 133-152.
Torres, M. (2015) βThe case for intervention in nature on behalf of animals: A critical review of the main arguments against interventionβ,Β Relations: Beyond Anthropocentrism, 3, pp. 33-49.
Villamor Iglesias, A. (2018) βThe overwhelming prevalence of suffering in natureβ,Β Revista de BioΓ©tica y Derecho, 42, pp. 181-195.
Vinding, M. (2014)Β A Copernican revolution in ethics, Los Gatos: Smashwords.
ββββΒ (2016) βThe speciesism of leaving nature alone, and the theoretical case for wildlife anti-natalismβ,Β Apeiron, 8, pp. 169-183.Groff, Z. & Ng, Y-K. (2019) βDoes suffering dominate enjoyment in the animal kingdom? An update to welfare biologyβ,
Crummett D. Human dominion and wild animal suffering.Β Religious Studies. 2022;58(4):814-830. doi:10.1017/S0034412521000354
Simon EckerstrΓΆm Liedholm, Luke Hecht, Vittoria Elliott, Improving wild animal welfare through contraception,Β BioScience, Volume 74, Issue 10, October 2024, Pages 695β700,Β https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biae071
Webpages, online pieces and blog posts
Alonso, W. J. & Schuck-Paim, C. (2017) βLife-fates: Meaningful categories to estimate animal suffering in the wildβ,Β Animal Ethics.
Animal Ethics (2016a) βAnimals in natural disastersβ,Β Wild animal suffering,Β Animal Ethics.
ββββ (2016b) βAntagonism in natureβ,Β Wild animal suffering,Β Animal Ethics.
ββββ (2016c) βCan animals in the wild be harmed in the same ways as domesticated animals and humans?β,Wild animal suffering,Β Animal Ethics.
ββββ (2016d) βCaring for orphaned animalsβ,Β Wild animal suffering,Β Animal Ethics.
ββββ (2016e) βDiseases in natureβ,Β Wild animal suffering,Β Animal Ethics.
ββββ (2016f) βEvolutionary reasons why suffering prevails in natureβ,Β Wild animal suffering,Β Animal Ethics.
ββββ (2016g) βHelping animals in fires and natural disastersβ,Β Wild animal suffering,Β Animal Ethics.
ββββ (2016h) βHelping animals in the wildβ,Β Wild animal sufferingΒ Animal Ethics.
ββββ (2016i) βHelping hungry and thirsty animalsβ, Wild animal suffering, Animal Ethics.
ββββ (2016j) βMalnutrition and thirst in wild animalsβ,Β Wild animal suffering,Β Animal Ethics.
ββββ (2016k) βPhysical injuries in wild animalsβ,Β Wild animal suffering,Β Animal Ethics.
ββββ (2016l) βPopulation dynamics and animal sufferingβ,Β Wild animal suffering,Β Animal Ethics.
ββββ (2016m) βPsychological stress in wild animalsβ,Β Wild animal suffering,Β Animal Ethics.
ββββ (2016n) βRescuing trapped animalsβ,Β Wild animal suffering,Β Animal Ethics.
ββββ (2016o) βThe situation of animals in the wildβ,Β Wild animal suffering,Β Animal Ethics.
ββββ (2016p) βVaccinating and healing injured and sick animalsβ,Β Wild animal suffering,Β Animal Ethics.
ββββ (2016q) βWeather conditions and nonhuman animalsβ,Β Wild animal suffering,Β Animal Ethics.
ββββ (2016r) βWhy wild animal suffering mattersβ,Β Wild animal sufferingΒ Animal Ethics.
ββββ (2016s) βWorking for a future with fewer harms suffered by animals in the wildβ,Β Wild animal suffering,Β Animal Ethics.
Bonnardel, Y. (2015 [2005]) βFor an end to Nature and a return to ethics and politicsβ,Β Tahin Party.
Brennan, O. (2017) ββFit and happyβ: How do we measure wild-animal suffering?β,Β Wild Animal Suffering Research.
Davidow, B. (2013) βWhy most people donβt care about wild-animal sufferingβ,Β Essays on Reducing Suffering.
Faria, C. (2014) βShould we intervene in nature to help animals?β,Β Practical Ethics: Ethics in the News, December 21.
ββββΒ (2015) βWhat (if anything) makes extinction bad?β,Β Practical Ethics: Ethics in the News, October 5.
Horta, O. (2015) βWhy the situation of animals in the wild should concern usβ,Β Animal Charity Evaluators, January 5.
McMahan, J. (2010a) βThe meat eatersβ,Β The New York Times, 19 September.
ββββΒ (2010b) βPredators: A responseβ,Β The New York Times, 28 September.
Olivier, D. (2016) βOn the right of predators to lifeβ,Β David Olivierβs blog, April 30.
Rowe, A. (2017) βAn ethic of interventionβ,Β Utility Farm.
Tomasik, B. (2009) βThe predominance of wild-animal suffering over happiness: An open problemβ,Β Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββ (2013a) βApplied welfare biology and why wild-animal advocates should focus on not spreading natureβ, Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββ (2013b) βCrop cultivation and wild animalsβ,Β Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββΒ (2013c) βIdeas for volunteering to reduce wild-animal sufferingβ,Β Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββΒ (2013d) βIntention-based moral reactions distort intuitions about wild animalsβ,Β Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββ (2015a) βEstimating aggregate wild-animal suffering from reproductive age and births per femaleβ, Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββΒ (2015b) βHow wild-caught fishing affects wild-animal sufferingβ,Β Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββ (2015c) βWhich marine trophic level contains the most total suffering?β, Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββΒ (2015d) βWhy vegans should care about suffering in natureβ,Β Reasonable Vegan, 12 April.
ββββ (2016a) βHabitat loss, not preservation, generally reduces wild-animal sufferingβ,Β Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββ (2016b) βHow forest fires affect wild-animal sufferingβ,Β Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββΒ (2016c) βHow painful is death from starvation or dehydration?β,Β Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββ (2016d) βHumanityβs impact on the aggregate metabolism of land wild animals: An analysis of Krausmann et al. (2013)β,Β Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββ (2016e) βHumanityβs net impact on wild-animal sufferingβ,Β Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββ (2016f) βIs there net suffering in nature? A reply to Michael Plantβ,Β Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββ (2016g) βNet primary productivity by land typeβ,Β Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββ (2016h) βScenarios for very long-term impacts of climate change on wild-animal sufferingβ,Β Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββ (2016i) βWill gene drives reduce wild-animal suffering?,Β Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββ (2016j) βWhy lower crop yields reduce invertebrate suffering (given certain assumptions)β,Β Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββ (2017a) βHow does killing animals affect total suffering in a simple, food-limited population?β,Β Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββ (2017b) βHow eutrophiscation affects freshwater invertebrate populationsβ,Β Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββ (2017c) βHow irrigation affects global net primary productivityβ, Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββ (2018 [2008]) βClimate change and wild animalsβ,Β Essays on Reducing Suffering.
ββββΒ (2018 [2016]) βEffects of CO2Β and climate change on terrestrial net primary productivityβ,Β Essays on Reducing Suffering.
Torres, R. (2015) βAltruistic murdersβ,Β Contragaia.