ABSTRACT
Animals are suffering in countless ways, whether it be through starvation on the streets, product testing in laboratories, or abuse on farms. Many of us want to help animals, but we do not know where we can have the most impact. Using a lens of effective altruism – a philosophy examining the ways that we can use our time and money to accomplish the greatest good in the world – we start to understand the ways in which we can help the largest number of animals. By viewing different cause areas in terms of scale, neglect, and tractability, we can identify areas that have the greatest potential for reducing and eliminating animal suffering. A close examination of these factors shows that if we seek the most effective ways to help animals, we should focus on animals raised for food. However, our research must not end there. Even within that cause area, we must continue using evidence and reason to investigate the most impactful interventions to help farmed animals.
