Executive summary: A personal reflection on accidentally stepping on a snail leads into a broader exploration of snail welfare, sentience uncertainty, and the vast—yet largely overlooked—suffering of invertebrates, with implications for food, cosmetics, and wild animal welfare.
Key points:
The author’s accidental killing of a snail triggered reflection on moral responsibility toward invertebrates, highlighting selective empathy and the vast unnoticed suffering of small animals.
Billions of snails are farmed and slaughtered annually for food and cosmetics, often by methods (e.g., boiling alive, electric shocks, chemical sprays) that plausibly cause extreme suffering.
Evidence suggests snails may feel pain: they show aversion to heat, respond to painkillers like morphine, form long-term aversive memories, and possess nervous systems potentially sufficient for sentience.
Even with low probabilities of sentience (e.g., ~5%), the sheer numbers of invertebrates mean that their welfare could represent an enormous moral issue, warranting a precautionary approach.
Practical steps include avoiding snail-based products, using humane gardening practices, supporting research on invertebrate sentience and welfare, and donating to organisations like Shrimp Welfare Project and Wild Animal Initiative.
The post situates snail suffering within the larger context of wild animal welfare, arguing that naturalness does not negate moral responsibility and encouraging readers to expand their moral circle to overlooked beings.
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.
Executive summary: A personal reflection on accidentally stepping on a snail leads into a broader exploration of snail welfare, sentience uncertainty, and the vast—yet largely overlooked—suffering of invertebrates, with implications for food, cosmetics, and wild animal welfare.
Key points:
The author’s accidental killing of a snail triggered reflection on moral responsibility toward invertebrates, highlighting selective empathy and the vast unnoticed suffering of small animals.
Billions of snails are farmed and slaughtered annually for food and cosmetics, often by methods (e.g., boiling alive, electric shocks, chemical sprays) that plausibly cause extreme suffering.
Evidence suggests snails may feel pain: they show aversion to heat, respond to painkillers like morphine, form long-term aversive memories, and possess nervous systems potentially sufficient for sentience.
Even with low probabilities of sentience (e.g., ~5%), the sheer numbers of invertebrates mean that their welfare could represent an enormous moral issue, warranting a precautionary approach.
Practical steps include avoiding snail-based products, using humane gardening practices, supporting research on invertebrate sentience and welfare, and donating to organisations like Shrimp Welfare Project and Wild Animal Initiative.
The post situates snail suffering within the larger context of wild animal welfare, arguing that naturalness does not negate moral responsibility and encouraging readers to expand their moral circle to overlooked beings.
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.