EA Forum Podcast (Curated & popular) “High-impact & urgent funding opportunity - Rodent fertility control” by Nitin Sekar
Context: I’m a senior fellow at Conservation X Labs (CXL), and I’m seeking support as I attempt to establish a program on humane rodent fertility control in partnership with the Wild Animal Initiative (WAI) and the Botstiber Institute for Wildlife Fertility Control (BIWFC). CXL is a biodiversity conservation organization working in sustainable technologies, not an animal welfare organization. However, CXL leadership is interested in simultaneously promoting biodiversity conservation and animal welfare, and they are excited about the possibility of advancing applied research that make it possible to ethically limit rodent populations to protect biodiversity. I think this represents the wild animal welfare community's first realistic opportunity to bring conservation organizations into wild animal welfare work while securing substantial non-EA funding for welfare-improving interventions.
Background
Rodenticides cause immense suffering to (likely) hundreds of millions of rats and mice annually through anticoagulation-induced death over several days, while causing significant non-target [...]
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Outline:
(01:08) Background
(02:20) Why this approach?
(03:49) Why CXL?
(06:03) Why now, and why me?
(06:59) Budget
(07:52) Next steps
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First published:
August 27th, 2025
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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.