Expanding our exploitation of animals is a moral step backward. This does not seem like the kind of project EA people or organizations should be supporting.
Domestication isn’t the same as exploitation, as wild animal welfare advocates will attest to. Dogs and cats and horses probably live better lives than all other animals.
I think this is a good point in itself to distinguish domestication from exploitation (and I upvoted it for this), but I think it doesn’t necessarily address what the comment about exploitation is pointing at.
I believe that the argument is that any use of animals in an efficient way will lead to industrialization of breeding, farming, etc. and it’s hard then to align incentives to make the results net positive for both humans and other species. At least I believe we have an extremely poor track record here.
That’s fair but I don’t think horses pre-1900 were treated in terrible ways. In particular the incentives for treating farm animals are VERY different from the incentives for treating service animals, whose usefulness depends on their continued health and quality of life.
Some were treated well, some badly pre-1900. But in the near future domesticated zebras would be essentially pets, as horses are today, and would have great lives . They are not needed for work now—we have mechanised transport—but they might be needed in the future.
Even in wealthy countries it’s not easy to be a horse, the fact that they, like all domestic animals are legally commodities, mean there interests will not be respected
This is not to mention the ubiquity of spinal alteration in seemingly well cared for horses, or how nearly all horses are ridden before There growth plates fuse
The comparison is between wild animals and animals in captivity. There is reason to think that the latter have better lives overall (the ready supplies of food and protection from predators provided by humans being obvious examples).
Expanding our exploitation of animals is a moral step backward. This does not seem like the kind of project EA people or organizations should be supporting.
Domestication isn’t the same as exploitation, as wild animal welfare advocates will attest to. Dogs and cats and horses probably live better lives than all other animals.
I think this is a good point in itself to distinguish domestication from exploitation (and I upvoted it for this), but I think it doesn’t necessarily address what the comment about exploitation is pointing at.
I believe that the argument is that any use of animals in an efficient way will lead to industrialization of breeding, farming, etc. and it’s hard then to align incentives to make the results net positive for both humans and other species. At least I believe we have an extremely poor track record here.
That’s fair but I don’t think horses pre-1900 were treated in terrible ways. In particular the incentives for treating farm animals are VERY different from the incentives for treating service animals, whose usefulness depends on their continued health and quality of life.
Some were treated well, some badly pre-1900. But in the near future domesticated zebras would be essentially pets, as horses are today, and would have great lives . They are not needed for work now—we have mechanised transport—but they might be needed in the future.
https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/what-soring
https://animalsaustralia.org/our-work/horse-racing/background/
https://awionline.org/content/urban-carriage-horses-out-step-responsible-horse-welfare
https://www.humanedecisions.com/premarin-horses-the-suffering-of-premarin-mares/
https://www.aspca.org/improving-laws-animals/public-policy/horse-slaughter
https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/facts-about-horse-slaughter
https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2013/03/11/horses-forgotten-victims-of-bullfighting/
This is all from wealthy countries
Even in wealthy countries it’s not easy to be a horse, the fact that they, like all domestic animals are legally commodities, mean there interests will not be respected
This is not to mention the ubiquity of spinal alteration in seemingly well cared for horses, or how nearly all horses are ridden before There growth plates fuse
https://www.writingofriding.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/deb-bennett-maturation.pdf
https://www.pferdeheilkunde.de/10.21836/PEM20070506
Or the congenital defects , intentional or not, caused by purposefully breeding to maintain breed characteristics
I honestly imagine these zebras being used as beasts of burden in poor countries would tbe treated even worse.
The comparison is between wild animals and animals in captivity. There is reason to think that the latter have better lives overall (the ready supplies of food and protection from predators provided by humans being obvious examples).
I would consider being sacrificed to gods, being eaten* , and fighting mens wars for them terrible treatment.
even after Christians stopped eating horses, It’s not like they were allowed to live a long retirement ones useless