ABSTRACT
In light of the extent of wild animal suffering (WAS), some philosophers, myself included, have adopted the view that we should cautiously assist wild animals on a large scale. However, there isn’t yet a consensus on what types of intervention to research, or on what the specific goals of intervention should be. In this chapter, I argue that using gene drives to beneficially modify wild animal populations is a type of intervention especially worthy of research. Focusing on CRISPR in particular, I argue that the moral costs of the alternative – the perpetual interference with wild animals’ liberties associated with conventional wildlife management – are far greater. Additionally, I compare a number of different goals that CRISPR could be used to try to achieve. Potential goals include making certain species, such as r-strategists or predators, extinct; removing the capacity to suffer from certain animals; or changing animals’ dietary and reproductive behaviors, for example, turning carnivores into herbivores or r-strategists into K-strategists. Though I argue that behavior change is ideal, I allow that removing the capacity to suffer is a promising, second-best option should behavior change prove infeasible to safely implement.
