Please find more information on animal suffering below:
Farmed animal suffering
Trillions of farmed animals (including fishes) experience cruel treatment and brutal deaths on factory farms. Farmed animal advocacy presents one of the most significant opportunities to reduce animal suffering on a large scale.
Chickens
Chickens are among the most abundant farmed animals, outranked only by farmed fishes and certain invertebrates, with an estimated 75 billion killed annually. When given enough space and an appropriate environment, chickens will forage for food, form nests and roosts, preen their feathers, and socialize with their flock. In contrast, chickens on factory farms live their entire lives in cramped, barren battery cages or crowded together in a shed with thousands of others, with little to no room to turn around or stretch their wings.
Fishes
As detailed in our Farmed Fish Welfare Report, existing research on fish welfare is limited, and the research that has been done tends to focus more on maximizing benefits for farms rather than fishes. While we believe that more research into promising ways to help farmed fish species is needed, we still believe that fish welfare should be prioritized within the broader effective animal advocacy movement. This is due to the current neglectedness of farmed fish animal welfare, the viability of potential strategies to improve farmed fish welfare, and the immense scale of fish farming—roughly 124 billion fishes are farmed in the world annually, with an additional 1.56 trillion caught (mid point) in the wild each year, not including bycatch and discards.
Shrimps
It is estimated that up to 518 billion (upper bound) farmed crustaceans are killed for food each year worldwide, yet less than 1% of animal welfare funding helps them. Unlike other invertebrates, it is more widely accepted that decapod crustaceans (e.g., shrimp, crabs, lobsters) and cephalopod mollusks (e.g., octopus, squid) are sentient creatures. In 2022, the sentience of both animal groups was officially recognized in U.K. law—an extremely promising development for organizations working to improve welfare conditions in aquatic animal farms. However, there is still significant room for more funding in this highly neglected area.
Pigs
Pigs are highly sentient animals capable of experiencing complex emotions, yet they are subjected to severe welfare issues, including confinement, tail mutilations, and the inability to exhibit natural behaviors such as playing and socializing. With nearly 1.5 billion pigs slaughtered for meat each year worldwide, addressing their welfare is both impactful and viable, given the availability of practical strategies to alleviate suffering and the current neglect of this issue.
Cows
Life for farmed cows is far from the idyllic, green pastures we see on milk cartons and meat packaging. Many of these curious animals spend their days in a crowded, confined space, with little chance to roam or enjoy a quiet rest under shady trees. Like humans, mother cows must give birth to produce milk. On farms, they are artificially inseminated every single year to become pregnant. In most cases, mother cows are separated from their calves after giving birth, denying them the chance to bond and nurture their young—a deeply distressing experience for both mothers and calves. Male calves are deemed “no use” by the dairy industry, so they are sold off for veal or beef or sometimes killed immediately after birth. It is estimated that around 308 million cows are killed for food each year worldwide.
Wild animal suffering
The number of wild animals far exceeds the combined number of humans, farmed animals, companion animals, and animals in laboratories. Unfortunately, many wild animals—possibly the vast majority—live very short lives and experience painful deaths.
Most organizations that focus on wild animals seem to be concerned with biodiversity conservation rather than the welfare of individual wild animals. We know of only a handful of charities that primarily focus on improving wild animal welfare. Their total global funding is estimated to be less than $5 million per year—a tiny amount relative to other cause areas; e.g., $290 million goes toward farmed animal welfare each year. We hope to see more charities working to improve wild animal welfare in the near future.
The lack of evidence for the effectiveness of strategies to improve wild animal welfare is partially due to the complexity of natural ecosystems and the difficulty of measuring the impacts of interventions in the wild. Due to this limitation, we believe that: (i) research is a promising way to help wild animals because it can inform decisions about which strategies to pursue. We acknowledge that improving wild animal welfare involves a high level of uncertainty, but its potential positive impact is also high.
Please find more information on animal suffering below:
Farmed animal suffering
Trillions of farmed animals (including fishes) experience cruel treatment and brutal deaths on factory farms. Farmed animal advocacy presents one of the most significant opportunities to reduce animal suffering on a large scale.
Chickens
Chickens are among the most abundant farmed animals, outranked only by farmed fishes and certain invertebrates, with an estimated 75 billion killed annually. When given enough space and an appropriate environment, chickens will forage for food, form nests and roosts, preen their feathers, and socialize with their flock. In contrast, chickens on factory farms live their entire lives in cramped, barren battery cages or crowded together in a shed with thousands of others, with little to no room to turn around or stretch their wings.
Fishes
As detailed in our Farmed Fish Welfare Report, existing research on fish welfare is limited, and the research that has been done tends to focus more on maximizing benefits for farms rather than fishes. While we believe that more research into promising ways to help farmed fish species is needed, we still believe that fish welfare should be prioritized within the broader effective animal advocacy movement. This is due to the current neglectedness of farmed fish animal welfare, the viability of potential strategies to improve farmed fish welfare, and the immense scale of fish farming—roughly 124 billion fishes are farmed in the world annually, with an additional 1.56 trillion caught (mid point) in the wild each year, not including bycatch and discards.
Shrimps
It is estimated that up to 518 billion (upper bound) farmed crustaceans are killed for food each year worldwide, yet less than 1% of animal welfare funding helps them. Unlike other invertebrates, it is more widely accepted that decapod crustaceans (e.g., shrimp, crabs, lobsters) and cephalopod mollusks (e.g., octopus, squid) are sentient creatures. In 2022, the sentience of both animal groups was officially recognized in U.K. law—an extremely promising development for organizations working to improve welfare conditions in aquatic animal farms. However, there is still significant room for more funding in this highly neglected area.
Pigs
Pigs are highly sentient animals capable of experiencing complex emotions, yet they are subjected to severe welfare issues, including confinement, tail mutilations, and the inability to exhibit natural behaviors such as playing and socializing. With nearly 1.5 billion pigs slaughtered for meat each year worldwide, addressing their welfare is both impactful and viable, given the availability of practical strategies to alleviate suffering and the current neglect of this issue.
Cows
Life for farmed cows is far from the idyllic, green pastures we see on milk cartons and meat packaging. Many of these curious animals spend their days in a crowded, confined space, with little chance to roam or enjoy a quiet rest under shady trees. Like humans, mother cows must give birth to produce milk. On farms, they are artificially inseminated every single year to become pregnant. In most cases, mother cows are separated from their calves after giving birth, denying them the chance to bond and nurture their young—a deeply distressing experience for both mothers and calves. Male calves are deemed “no use” by the dairy industry, so they are sold off for veal or beef or sometimes killed immediately after birth. It is estimated that around 308 million cows are killed for food each year worldwide.
Wild animal suffering
The number of wild animals far exceeds the combined number of humans, farmed animals, companion animals, and animals in laboratories. Unfortunately, many wild animals—possibly the vast majority—live very short lives and experience painful deaths.
Most organizations that focus on wild animals seem to be concerned with biodiversity conservation rather than the welfare of individual wild animals. We know of only a handful of charities that primarily focus on improving wild animal welfare. Their total global funding is estimated to be less than $5 million per year—a tiny amount relative to other cause areas; e.g., $290 million goes toward farmed animal welfare each year. We hope to see more charities working to improve wild animal welfare in the near future.
The lack of evidence for the effectiveness of strategies to improve wild animal welfare is partially due to the complexity of natural ecosystems and the difficulty of measuring the impacts of interventions in the wild. Due to this limitation, we believe that: (i) research is a promising way to help wild animals because it can inform decisions about which strategies to pursue. We acknowledge that improving wild animal welfare involves a high level of uncertainty, but its potential positive impact is also high.