Hannah McKay

This is the second report in Rethink Priorities’ Shrimp Welfare Sequence. The first report estimated the scale of shrimp farming. This report examines the welfare threats that these individuals face.

This is the third report in Rethink Priorities’ Shrimp Welfare Sequence, a series that addresses whether and how to best protect the welfare of shrimp. After outlining the welfare threats farmed shrimp may face, this report investigates the effect of these welfare threats on pre-slaughter mortality.

This article describes how various types and features of vocalizations could act as welfare metrics for wild animals and how a remote acoustic sensing network could be used to collect this type of data non-invasively. Animal vocalizations vary with emotional state (due to physiological changes). Certain types of vocalizations are only produced in certain situations (e.g. alarm calls), which could give us information about the lives of wild animals. Vocalizations can be recorded from the wild remotely, using microphones placed in the field. Machine learning techniques could be applied to recognize the species and analyze welfare-indicating features in the vocalizations, or recognize what type of call it is. This may help indicate the welfare status of whole groups of populations of wild animals. Studying affective vocalizations could give insight into animal welfare in many different contexts, not just remote sensing.

This post is the third installment in the Rodenticide Reduction sequence. This report describes and ranks interventions to reduce rodenticide use in the U.S. according to their expected impact, neglectedness, and tractability.

Shrimp welfare research at Rethink Priorities Rethink Priorities’ Shrimp Welfare Sequence is a series that addresses whether and how best to protect the welfare of shrimp. At any time, more…

The massive scale of invasive (e.g., non-native) Lymantria dispar dispar (spongy moth) outbreaks represents an unappreciated wild animal welfare issue.

This post is the second installment in the Rodenticide Reduction sequence. This report explores the reasons why rodenticides are used, under what circumstances they could be replaced, and whether they are replaceable with currently available alternatives.

Shrimp welfare research at Rethink Priorities Rethink Priorities’ Shrimp Welfare Sequence is a series that addresses whether and how best to protect the welfare of shrimp. At any time, more…

We produced rough-and-ready forecasts of the number of animals farmed in 2033 with the aim of helping advocates and funders with prioritization decisions. We focus on the most numerous groups of farmed animals: broiler chickens, finfishes, shrimps, and select insect species (black soldier fly larvae and mealworms).

We describe the broad patterns of the global salmon farming industry.