Executive summary: Accurately quantifying animal suffering requires considering both the duration and intensity of their pain, revealing that focusing solely on the number of animals killed can obscure the true extent of their suffering.
Key points:
Suffering can be quantified by considering the duration and intensity of pain, using categories like excruciating, disabling, hurtful, and annoying pain.
The number of animals killed is an inadequate proxy for their time spent suffering on farms, as it ignores factors like lifespan and living conditions.
Comparing suffering between species requires estimating both the average intensity and total duration of their suffering.
Slaughter, while cruel, may account for a relatively small portion of the total suffering farmed animals endure in their lifetimes.
Welfare improvements like cage-free systems and higher standards can significantly reduce suffering for individual animals, comparable to reducing the number of animals farmed.
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Executive summary: Accurately quantifying animal suffering requires considering both the duration and intensity of their pain, revealing that focusing solely on the number of animals killed can obscure the true extent of their suffering.
Key points:
Suffering can be quantified by considering the duration and intensity of pain, using categories like excruciating, disabling, hurtful, and annoying pain.
The number of animals killed is an inadequate proxy for their time spent suffering on farms, as it ignores factors like lifespan and living conditions.
Comparing suffering between species requires estimating both the average intensity and total duration of their suffering.
Slaughter, while cruel, may account for a relatively small portion of the total suffering farmed animals endure in their lifetimes.
Welfare improvements like cage-free systems and higher standards can significantly reduce suffering for individual animals, comparable to reducing the number of animals farmed.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.