I don’t think this response makes much sense. Many of the questions listed are of very niche EA interest. For example, the number of researchers in the whole world looking at Wild Animal Suffering (through an EA lens) is surely in the 10s. The number of these who are specifically on the ground in Rwanda making notes on the experiences of wildlife, it should go without saying, close to zero. Of course, there are many zoologists in the world, but as EA WAW researchers often find, it is hard to apply much of this to research that is interested in welfare specifically.
The same goes for site visits to factory farms. First hand information about actual conditions on factory farms is notoriously hard to come by and many EA discussions have noted that we lack information about conditions as they may vary across other parts of the world. It would be very surprising if there were a plethora of animal welfare first hand case studies of conditions in farms across different parts of Africa that we haven’t noticed before.
Most of the rest of the questions just seem to involve speaking to locals about their perspectives while in different parts of Africa. While I agree that there is, of course, already qualitative research somewhat related to many of these questions, it’s hard to see the rationale for not speaking to Africans about their perspectives and only reading qualitative reports second hand from the developed world.
I don’t think this response makes much sense. Many of the questions listed are of very niche EA interest. For example, the number of researchers in the whole world looking at Wild Animal Suffering (through an EA lens) is surely in the 10s. The number of these who are specifically on the ground in Rwanda making notes on the experiences of wildlife, it should go without saying, close to zero. Of course, there are many zoologists in the world, but as EA WAW researchers often find, it is hard to apply much of this to research that is interested in welfare specifically.
The same goes for site visits to factory farms. First hand information about actual conditions on factory farms is notoriously hard to come by and many EA discussions have noted that we lack information about conditions as they may vary across other parts of the world. It would be very surprising if there were a plethora of animal welfare first hand case studies of conditions in farms across different parts of Africa that we haven’t noticed before.
Most of the rest of the questions just seem to involve speaking to locals about their perspectives while in different parts of Africa. While I agree that there is, of course, already qualitative research somewhat related to many of these questions, it’s hard to see the rationale for not speaking to Africans about their perspectives and only reading qualitative reports second hand from the developed world.