The Real Case for Wild Animal

Someone asked us what are our thoughts about Martin Balluch’s presentation against intervention in nature, given during the International Animal Rights Conference held earlier this month. Unfortunately the presentation is not publically available, so we will address two posts he wrote in the past about suffering in nature called: ‘Most wild animals are happy most of the time!’ and, ‘Wilderness and wild animal suffering (again!)’.

Arguments against intervention in nature are of course not new, with many raising the concern that humans would cause more harm than good if they will intervene. However, this is not exactly Balluch’s point. While making his case against intervention in nature Balluch heavily nourishes nature idealization, falsely idealizes autonomy in nature, and falsely claims that most of the beings in nature are happy. We’ll address these 3 claims in the following post.

Most wild animals are happy most of the time

Balluch argues, based on his personal experience traveling in what he calls nature and according to him “seeing animals in the wild, and they almost always seem content and happy”, that most wild animals are happy most of the time. However that obviously doesn’t prove that statement, as Balluch can see only, or at least mostly, big and healthy animals living in accessible areas. To make such a statement seriously, he needs data not anecdotal personal observation. His statement is based only on what his eyes can see and it ignores everything he can’t.

Balluch holds an idealized and a very partial view of nature, which causes him not only to ignore most of the horrible parts of the lives of animals in nature, it also causes him to ignore most of the animals.
Usually the idealized image of nature is consisted of adult individuals of large herbivore mammals pasture in a green field. However, there is nothing ideal in the lives of adult herbivores considering the constant social stress of many, the constant fear of predation, the harsh weather, the hunger, the thirst, the diseases, the frequent injuries from successful escapes from predation, and the excruciating pain of unsuccessful escapes from predation. And more importantly, herbivore mammals dying in adulthood are by no doubt extraordinarily exceptional and utterly unrepresentative of life in nature.

Most of the sentient beings on earth never reach adulthood, but live for a short and extremely brutal period. In most cases, lives of nothing but suffering.
This fact is particularly relevant for the case against nature as an ideal since this mass scale horror is mainly driven by one of nature’s most fundamental elements – the reproductive strategy.

The two main reproductive strategies are called K-selection and r-selection. To put it simply, K-selection is putting all the energy on maximally preparing individuals to survive the environmental conditions, while r-selection is putting all the energy on the maximum number of individuals and minimum investment (in many cases none) in each individual.
Of course these strategies are combined in some way or another among different species, but generally that is the main framework.

Basically, the higher the value of r, the lower the value of K. So every single case of reproduction of r-selected species ends up with numerous individuals who will die shortly after.
Since the population of these species is more or less the same from generation to generation, then on average, only one offspring will survive to replace each parent.

Of course not all the individuals of each reproduction will live long enough to become sentient (consumed while still in the egg at a very early stage for example) and there are those who argue that some never become sentient, no matter their age, because they are simply non-sentient. However, given that most animals practice r-selection, including invertebrates of course (by far most of the animals on Earth) and many vertebrates such as fishes, amphibians and reptiles, and given the enormous number of reproductions and the enormous number of reproduced beings, nature is not only far from being ideal, it is full of suffering on every level.

The philosopher Oscar Horta thinks that the existence of r-selection leads to the inevitable conclusion that there is far more suffering than happiness in nature. He gives an example to prove his point:

“Consider just one example regarding a certain species of animals, the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). These animals can lay from a few thousand to several million eggs. Let us suppose that they lay 2 million each time. It is estimated that in 2007 there were around 33,700 tons of Atlantic cod in the Gulf of Maine bank alone. An adult cod can weigh up to 25-35 kg. Assuming they have an average weight of 33.7 kg, there would be around a million of these animals (the average weight I have proposed is too high, though on the other hand I am assuming, for the sake of simplicity, that these animals are all adult animals). Assuming the cod population remains stable, on average only two of the eggs that a female cod lays in her life end up developing into adults. Thus, a total of 2 trillion eggs laid will fail to become adults. Assume each egg has a 0.1 probability of developing into a young, immature fish, a codling, and that there is a 0.1 probability that codlings are sentient. Finally, assume that on average they suffer for just ten seconds before they die.

All of these are extremely conservative assumptions. Yet they entail that each time these animals reproduce we can expect that 200 billion seconds of suffering is experienced (and these are only the cods in the Gulf of Maine). Since there are 31,556,926 seconds in a year, this amounts to 6337.7529 years of suffering. If this continues over an average human lifespan (that is, six decades), the number of years of suffering generated would be 380,265.174. All this for a very specific species in a very specific area.”

Oscar Horta’s terrifying illustration is extremely important for several reasons:
Even non-negative utilitarians must infer that nature can’t be morally justified.
It further refutes the idealistic view of nature.
It further induces the moral need to act against it.
It further refutes the idealistic view of a vegan world which is many activists’ moral ideal.

The kinds of lives that the absolute majority of sentient beings on earth are forced to live, are of nothing but suffering. And that is a much more accurate view of nature’s true nature.

To positively view nature one must wear extraordinarily optimistic lenses when looking at individuals from K-selected species, and simply cover the eyes when looking at individuals from r-selected species.

Balluch argues that his main claim that most wild animals are happy most of the time, is not solely based on his observation but is also inferred from evolution. He argues that: “Being happy and content is a vital ingredient to procreate and to live safely and long. Hence, evolution will produce animals, who are mostly happy under normal circumstances.
Only that evolution doesn’t work like that. Evolution is about adaptation not happiness. Nature is indifferent to happiness. Evolution is a descriptive mechanism not a system that has values. Nature has no goals, let alone that beings in nature would be happy. Beings in nature evolved to survive and reproduce, and so if they manage to do so, there will be more of them. That has nothing to do with happiness. It barely has anything to do with the welfare level of beings in nature as many of them can reproduce even with very low level of welfare. Reproduction is an indication of the ability to survive under specific living conditions, not of happiness. And Balluch’s focus on reproduction as an indicator is actually very ironic considering what was just explained regarding the two main reproductive strategies and the predominance of r-selection. So, if anything, the predominance of r-selection is a very strong indication of the opposite argument – that most of the being in nature suffer most of the time, with trillions experiencing nothing but suffering.

Nature Chauvinist

Balluch’s statement regarding evolution mentioned above, as well as other statements like: “In the evolutionary arms race between predator and prey, the prey animals are always one step ahead, otherwise the ecological balance could not be upheld”, reveals that Balluch is first of all a nature chauvinist. He is supposedly concerned about the autonomy of the induvial animal, but actually talks about populations, species, ecological balance and nature itself, as if these are morally relevant entities and not merely abstract notions.

To say that something is natural doesn’t add any moral value to it. It only says that it evolved spontaneously through time and improved or didn’t interrupt the reproduction of its beholder.
Nature is indifferent to the suffering of its residents.

Something can be good or bad regardless of it being natural (the notorious naturalistic fallacy).
Some things are bad despite that they are natural, like reproduction, and some things are good despite that they are not natural, like contraceptives.

Natural processes are not moral entities, sentient beings are. If intervening in a natural process can help sentient beings who are affected by this natural process, we are morally obligated to intervene, not to abstain.
Refusing to do so is placing non-moral entities above moral entities. And it makes no moral sense.

Thinking of nature as impeccable is not only ignorant of the scope of suffering in the wild but it is also, maybe unintentionally, confusing abstract terms such as species, with moral entities which are the individual members of the species. A species is just a convenient term to define individuals of similar biological traits, with no ethical relevancy.

Stating that nature can fix itself as long as humans don’t interfere is overlooking individuals and focusing on species and ecosystems. Species may manage in the wild as long as humans don’t interfere, but that is “thanks” to the mass reproduction mechanism that makes many individuals in each breed, of which only one on average will reach adulthood. Under this cruel natural mechanism individuals are sacrificed. The species may get stronger but the individuals live brutal, strugglefull, stressful and violent lives. For the species to flourish all it takes is that a sufficient number of its members reach reproduction age, no matter out of how many born each period, and what kind of lives they endure.

In a way morality and the naturalistic perspective are in contradiction. Morality strives for making the world a better place, while the naturalistic view strives to leave it as it is.

In addition, even the ones who think that nature always knows best are in favor of interventions in many cases. Just to name a few: medications, vaccinations, pre-birth genetic tests, abortions (for every possible reason), glasses, wheel chairs, hearing aids, sun screens, sun glasses and etc.
Arguing that it is morally acceptable to interfere with nature only when it comes to humans is speciesist. Surly all the other species would be happy to receive the various benefits of human medicine and technological aids.
Since the treatment of nonhuman interests in a similar situation must be the same as it is in the case of humans, interventions in nature for nonhumans must be morally obliged just as they are when it comes to humans. Either we can argue that any intervention in favor of any species is immoral, or that any intervention is moral. Otherwise it is speciesism.

Arguments against intervention in nature are absurd when coming from activists, which their main activity is promoting a mass scale intervention in nature as a moral solution. They can justly argue that it is morally justified given the cruel alternative, but they can’t argue that intervention in nature is just morally wrong in principle, while promoting the symbol of intervention in nature – agriculture.
So, activists approve many interventions in nature, and therefore they can’t principally argue against it.

Moreover, it is very hard to define what is a natural phenomenon in this world. If a crow attacks a nightingale in an activists’ garden we assume they will not stand by.
If these activists would see a wild boar attacking “their” dog we are sure they would interfere for the sake of the dog. Probably so would most if during a trek they encounter a wolf attacking a rabbit. They would do it because they see sentient beings in need and they feel they can help them. That’s all it takes. Someone who suffers and someone who can help. In our world there are trillions of someones who suffer, and only a few who are willing to help. That’s why the few who do, must act in order to help them all, and make sure that no one else would be in need in the future.

Autonomy

Obviously Balluch is aware that there is a lot of suffering in nature, so in order to protect his idealized view of it, and the supposed autonomy of animals living in the wild to prefer it, he keeps making claims against civilization, as if intervening in nature necessarily means human civilization, or that if human civilization is terrible then nature is good.

Balluch specifies all kinds of harms involved with human civilization, from killing mice while producing wheat, to building houses and roads, using electricity, plastic bags, or consuming anything practically, as well as all kinds of harms caused to humans by civilization such as depression, loneliness, alcoholism, cigarettes, illnesses, loss of purpose and etc. We couldn’t agree more and wrote about it in several places (1,2,3). However, the fact that living in civilization is horrible, and is bad for humans, or even if it is indeed worse than living in the wild, doesn’t make nature good. Both options can be terrible.

Indeed they both are. We know that for many animal rights activists nature represents perfection, a romantic and virtuous ideal we should aspire to, something that ought to be reverently preserved and never criticized. But the truth is that nature is where trillions of sentient beings suffer from hunger, thirst, diseases, parasites, injuries, extreme weathers, rape, infanticide, violent dominancy fights, the constant fear of being attacked, actually being attacked, and only rarely die from caducity.

Balluch also argues that every human, including vegans, causes more suffering than any wild animal. We are not sure that this claim is absolutely accurate but we agree that humans in general, vegans included, are causing a lot of suffering to many many nonhuman animals, probably more than the vast majority of animals in nature. However, the fact that human civilization is horrible doesn’t mean that nature isn’t. Balluch may make a strong case against civilization but merely by that he doesn’t make a strong case in favor of nature, or against intervention.

Only had the case for intervention been that human civilization is good or better, this line of argumentation would have made sense. But this is not the main argument for intervention in nature. The main argument is that activists should be obligated to preventing suffering no matter to whom, by whom and where it happens. What makes animals worthy of moral consideration is their subjective ability to experience, not the objective conditions of their lives (such as to what species they belong, where they live and their relations with other species) or their relations with humans.

Balluch argues that we should respect animals’ choice of autonomy and freedom instead of protection from the dangers in the wild.
But animals don’t really choose freedom over protection. The absolute vast majority of animals in the wild have no choice. Many social animals for example are forced to live in very hierarchal structures in which they have no freedom but have protection of the group. For Balluch’s claim to make sense he needs to show that most animals choose freedom over group protection. We doubt that he is familiar with even one example of such case. How many fishes or birds choose freedom over protection? If anything, individuals in the wild always waive freedom for the sake of protection, and even that is relevant only if they really have a conscious choice on the matter.
And that is the case among animals living in groups, most animals’ freedom sums up with whether they are going to be devoured by this being or the other. Most of the beings in the world not only don’t reach adulthood so to become autonomous, they don’t even reach a day old in nature.

Where is the autonomy of the trillions of animals who are devoured every day in the wild? They are all individuals, and they are all suffering. They all need help. All the time. Nature is the realm of violence and power, not of autonomy.

Constantly dealing with fear, thirst, hunger, diseases, parasites, and whatnot, is not really to be autonomous. There is no freedom in nature.
Every single second somewhere in the wild world, defenseless and frightened babies are left alone because their mother has to go search for food, a turtle is burned alive as she can’t out run the flames of a fire, a bird’s feet are frozen to a branch since he couldn’t find shelter from the harsh weather, a baboon monkey is in ongoing stress as an higher ranking female takes food out of her mouth and eats it herself, a nestling is thrown off the nest by the other siblings so they can get more food, a coyote is experiencing severe hunger as the rabbit he chased managed to escape instead of being torn apart, a female dolphin is being raped after she couldn’t outswim a male or even a few of them who gang rape her, a badger drags his rotten legs with infectious wounds resulting from constant fights, a zebra is dehydrated but can’t approach the ponds as the lionesses might be on the prowl, a lizard is being slowly devoured by a fungus that spread through the organs, a weak robin chick starves to death because his parents don’t feed him as it makes more sense energetically to invest in his stronger siblings.

Having said all that, and despite that obviously we have no doubt that we are morally obligated to do so, we don’t think that intervention in nature is the solution, and for two main reasons.
The first one is that although what is required is technological developments, the ideas of intervention in nature are still social ones. Meaning, society must be convinced that it should commit itself for the sake of animals in nature. It would take a whole web of institutions, on the political, academic and economic levels, to revolutionize the way humans see practically everything in this world. That is when they haven’t yet even made the much more basic step which is stop observing nature as their resource but as other beings’ home.

Even if you believe that a species which is still so far from eradicating poverty, hunger and war not to mention racism, misogyny  and ageism, a species that hasn’t even ended slavery yet, and even expands it, and of course a species that invented and constantly intensifies factory farms, will someday seriously address the suffering of animals in nature, it will take a lot of time and we all know what time means in this world.

What part of the history of the human race makes anyone believe that this species is capable of making moral decisions?

Currently not only that humans are not even willing to take responsibility over animals’ suffering that they are directly causing, but the number of the victims is constantly increasing.

What makes the expectation, that humans would someday care for animals’ suffering in nature despite that currently they don’t even feel morally obligated to care for the animals which are tortured directly for them, even more ridiculous, is how they deal with climate change – what is supposed to be in their eyes the biggest problem their species ever faced. Gladly, so far humans are far from dealing with the issue in a proportional way. They are willing to worsen the state of the planet even if it hurts their children, so they can maintain their lifestyle. So expecting that they would recruit to help animals in the wild is absurd.

Don’t confuse the last argument with the infamous claim that there are more burning issues at stake. Except for factory farming, we don’t think that there are more burning issues than suffering in nature. It is humans who think that there are many issues (factory farms are not an issue for them at all) which are more important but don’t bother dealing with them either. We have no reason to think that societies that have invested billions to precede other societies in the race to the moon (a project with very low scientific aspects and zero ethical aspects) instead of dealing with malaria for example, would ever seriously deal with helping animals in nature.

How can we seriously expect a society which hasn’t even made the first crucial ethical step, to make the last one? And all the more so when even most of the activists are against making it?

The idea of intervention in nature is all in all, a social one. It is immoral to wait for society to change, definitely not when it is certain that even if these ideas would be implemented, it would be far from helping all the sentient beings on earth. And that brings us to the second fundamental problem.

The second problem is that despite the profound understating of nature’s true nature by the intervention supporters, their conclusion is that we have a moral obligation to thoroughly study ecosystems so we can help some animals in some of them. The suggesters understand perfectly well that in this world suffering is inevitable. Such an understanding must establish a moral obligation to thoroughly study not only specific ecosystems so we can affect them and hopefully reduce some of the suffering of some of the animals, but the whole globe so we can affect it and hopefully end all the suffering of the all the animals.

The intervention supporters argue that we are morally obligated to help in every case we are sure we can help more than harm. It sounds reasonable, but that also means that we must accept the suffering in all the cases which we can’t be sure we can help. Suffering is so inherent in this world that even the ones who truly care about every suffering being, accept much of the suffering as obvious. Accepting suffering mustn’t be reasonable.
Helping the ones that we are sure that we can, is the moral thing to do only after giving up the option of helping all of them.

Intervention supporters are calling to study the issue and lay hopes on that future humans would be more caring and ethical and so would act to promote technological solutions for reducing suffering.
We are calling for present activists to realize that there is no substantial reason to lay hopes on future humans and there is no moral reason to let trillions of sentient beings suffer until the good humans from the future would show up, and therefore we all must look now for technological solutions to stop all the suffering.

The human society is not and will not be nonhumans’ salvation but their oppression. On the other hand, individual humans can be nonhumans’ saviors, but only if they stop laying their hopes on their species and realize that it is up to them only. Up to you.