EA Forum Podcast (All audio) [Linkpost] “Why we ignore the suffering of wild animals: Understanding our biases” by Animal_Ethics
A hidden crisis
Literally, quintillions1 of animals are suffering and dying right now in the wild, due to disease, hunger, thirst, excessive heat or cold, and other factors. Yet, most people—including those who express concern for animals—fail to give importance to this issue. Why?
In this article, we explore the cognitive biases2 that lead us to ignore one of the world's largest sources of suffering and death.3 Understanding these biases can help us think more clearly about our moral responsibilities.
The magnitude of the problem
When we think of animal suffering, we often picture factory farms or labs that test on animals. These are indeed serious problems. But the number of wild animals is vastly larger, estimated between 1 and 10 quintillion at any given time.4
To understand this, consider the following analogy:
If we compressed the total number of animals exploited by humans and [...]
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Outline:
(00:15) A hidden crisis
(00:50) The magnitude of the problem
(01:57) Status quo bias: Resistance to changing beliefs
(02:43) Neglect of small animals
(03:37) Compassion Fade / The loss of compassion effect
(04:29) Scope neglect
(05:06) Availability heuristic
(05:45) Survivorship bias
(06:34) False deduction: Since humans harm, nature helps
(07:04) Idyllic view of nature
(08:01) Tendency to justify natural suffering
(08:59) Double standard regarding acts and omissions
(09:38) Proportion bias
(10:26) Short-term bias
(11:11) The bubble effect (false consensus)
(12:10) No one cares often means I don't want them to care
(12:43) Reducing the influence of bias
(14:09) Notes
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First published:
June 25th, 2025
Linkpost URL:
https://www.animal-ethics.org/why-we-ignore-the-suffering-of-wild-animals-understanding-our-biases/
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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.