Abstract
Is there a moral requirement to assist wild animals suffering due to natural causes? According to the laissez-faire intuition, although we may have special duties to assist wild animals, there are no general requirements to care for them. If this view is right, then our positive duties toward wild animals can be only special, grounded in special circumstances. In this article I present the contribution argument which employs the thought that the receipt of benefits from wild animals is one such kind of special circumstance. If this argument is correct, then the circle of moral agents required to assist some wild animals is significantly widened.
Highlights
Many wild animals suffer due to various natural causes: disasters, starvation, disease, just to name a few (Animal Ethics, 2016; Horta, 2010; Ng, 1995)
If we are required to provide care for wild animals from whom we benefit, how much care and for how long should we provide for these animals? The answer to this question very much depends on the amount of the contribution of these animals—that is, the extent and duration of the provided care should be proportional to their contribution to the production of the benefits we receive
The implication of the laissez-faire intuition (LFI) is that we are not normally required to assist wild animals suffering due to natural causes
Summary
Many wild animals suffer due to various natural causes: disasters, starvation, disease, just to name a few (Animal Ethics, 2016; Horta, 2010; Ng, 1995). On the assumption that sentient wild animals are morally considerable, are we required to assist them in their struggle to live lives free from suffering? Some have argued that we are morally required to aid suffering wild animals, provided that we could do so without excessive cost to ourselves (Donaldson & Kymlicka, 2011; McMahan, 2015; Nussbaum, 2006). Drawing on Peter Singer’s (1972) famous argument for the
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