How I Learned to Love Shrimp

Cameron Meyer Shorb making the case for wild animals and why we should care about their suffering.

November 02, 2023 Amy Odene & James Ozden
How I Learned to Love Shrimp
Cameron Meyer Shorb making the case for wild animals and why we should care about their suffering.
Show Notes Chapter Markers

Cameron is the executive director of Wild Animal Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of animals by accelerating the growth of wild animal welfare science.

In this episode Cameron helps us to understand the vast topic of wild animal suffering. Cameron makes the compelling case for why we should invest resources into understanding how we can reduce wild animal suffering responsibly with data-backed interventions, improving the overall well-being of wild animals.  

We talk through the importance of Wild Animal Initiative’s research in this area, their grant-making arm which is enabling the research field in this area to grow and the future plans for their work. 

Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:

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Episode preview
Intro
An animal related view that Cameron changed his mind on recently
Cameron's journey into animal advocacy
What is wild animal welfare
Why should we care about wild animal welfare
The scale of the issue
Thinking about interventions and potential harms
Concrete recommendations
Different classifications of wild animals
Probabilities of wild animal suffering
Main levers to impact wild animal welfare
Positive experiences in wild animal's lives
Reducing suffering vs improving welfare
Intense short term pain vs chronic pain
Challenges of doing research on welfare and suffering
WAI services offer
Examples of research WAI would support
Sentience tradeoff
Are wild animal welfare interventions compatible with their farmed animal counterparts
What can advocates do about this
WAI expansion plans
Closing questions