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Predator and prey, reformatted author accepted version.pdf (239.17 kB)

Rabbits, stoats and the predator problem: Why a strong animal rights position need not call for human intervention to protect prey from predators

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journal contribution
posted on 2022-04-14, 11:12 authored by Josh MilburnJosh Milburn
Animal rights positions face the ‘predator problem’: the suggestion that if the rights of nonhuman animals are to be protected, then we are obliged to interfere in natural ecosystems to protect prey from predators. Generally, rather than embracing this conclusion, animal ethicists have rejected it, basing this objection on a number of different arguments. This paper considers but challenges three such arguments, before defending a fourth possibility. Rejected are Peter Singer’s suggestion that interference will lead to more harm than good, Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka’s suggestion that respect for nonhuman sovereignty necessitates non-interference in normal circumstances, and Alasdair Cochrane’s solution based on the claim that predators cannot survive without killing prey. The possibility defended builds upon Tom Regan’s suggestion that predators, as moral patients but not moral agents, cannot violate the rights of their prey, and so the rights of the prey, while they do exist, do not call for intervention. This idea is developed by a consideration of how moral agents can be more or less responsible for a given event, and defended against criticisms offered by thinkers including Alasdair Cochrane and Dale Jamieson.

Funding

Department for Employment and Learning, Northern Ireland

History

School

  • Social Sciences and Humanities

Department

  • International Relations, Politics and History

Published in

Res Publica

Volume

21

Issue

3

Pages

273 - 289

Publisher

Springer

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Rights holder

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

Publisher statement

This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-015-9281-2

Publication date

2015-06-04

Copyright date

2015

ISSN

1356-4765

eISSN

1572-8692

Language

  • en

Depositor

Dr Josh Milburn. Deposit date: 28 March 2022