Thanks for writing this up Saulius! I think it is a really useful addition to the literature on EAA. You seem good at writing such content! :)
Some very quick thoughts that I had on this piece:
- My rough impression is that the āpre-slaughter mortality rateā of mice is relatively high. This matches my own experience when I had pet mice when I was younger and a quick google suggests that lab mice mortality seems high. E.g. > We examined the survival rate of 539 litters of mice from two of the most commonly used laboratory strains (C57Bl/ā6 and Balb/āc) bred under normal husbandry procedures, and found that mortality rate (that is whole litters lost) was at average 28,9%.
- My rough impression is some pet snakes feed on eggs or fish predominantly rather than mice. I am not sure how big a proportion does that though but it could be significant. E.g., I think the Gartner Snake is a fairly common pet breed and that it is common to feed them fish.
- I have a feeling that rodents are farmed in larger numbers for human consumption in some asian countries but a quick google didnāt really confirm or deny that.
- I wonder if more mice are fed to captive/āfarmed crocodiles, alligators, and caimans then to captive snakes. These other reptiles are are much bigger than the average snake and eat more often, and I think it is common to feed them mice. Skimming this and it seems possible that the number of these other reptiles farmed is in the hundreds of thousands.
-I wonder if mice are fed in quite large amounts to captive predatory birds. E.g., this suggests one of these birds eats x5 the amount of mice p/āw than a python does.
- I thinks thereās a decent chance that if one were to dive deeper into the farming of invertebrates then this could lead to discoveries of tens of billions of additional farmed animals the movement largely currently neglects.
But in all I mainly think this is an important area that not many have thought about (including me). Thanks for highlighting it! :)
I thinks thereās a decent chance that if one were to dive deeper into the farming of invertebrates then this could lead to discoveries of tens of billions of additional farmed animals the movement largely currently neglects.
I agree.
Say this is the case, what would be the implications? It does seem that more general anti-speciecism efforts become comparatively more effective the more animal suffering is widely dispersed.
Thanks for writing this up Saulius! I think it is a really useful addition to the literature on EAA. You seem good at writing such content! :)
Some very quick thoughts that I had on this piece:
- My rough impression is that the āpre-slaughter mortality rateā of mice is relatively high. This matches my own experience when I had pet mice when I was younger and a quick google suggests that lab mice mortality seems high. E.g.
> We examined the survival rate of 539 litters of mice from two of the most commonly used laboratory strains (C57Bl/ā6 and Balb/āc) bred under normal husbandry procedures, and found that mortality rate (that is whole litters lost) was at average 28,9%.
- My rough impression is some pet snakes feed on eggs or fish predominantly rather than mice. I am not sure how big a proportion does that though but it could be significant. E.g., I think the Gartner Snake is a fairly common pet breed and that it is common to feed them fish.
- I have a feeling that rodents are farmed in larger numbers for human consumption in some asian countries but a quick google didnāt really confirm or deny that.
- I wonder if more mice are fed to captive/āfarmed crocodiles, alligators, and caimans then to captive snakes. These other reptiles are are much bigger than the average snake and eat more often, and I think it is common to feed them mice. Skimming this and it seems possible that the number of these other reptiles farmed is in the hundreds of thousands.
-I wonder if mice are fed in quite large amounts to captive predatory birds. E.g., this suggests one of these birds eats x5 the amount of mice p/āw than a python does.
- I thinks thereās a decent chance that if one were to dive deeper into the farming of invertebrates then this could lead to discoveries of tens of billions of additional farmed animals the movement largely currently neglects.
But in all I mainly think this is an important area that not many have thought about (including me). Thanks for highlighting it! :)
I agree.
Say this is the case, what would be the implications? It does seem that more general anti-speciecism efforts become comparatively more effective the more animal suffering is widely dispersed.