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Culling Invasive Animals Essay

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The introduction of foreign or “invasive” species into ecosystems places a massive risk of exposing the inhabitants of this environment to mass extinction, far lower rates of biodiversity and potentially irreversible, permanent changes to the biological makeup of the food web. The ethical problem involved with this serious situation is whether the culling or “selective slaughter” of these invasive species is ethical, if, in doing so will inflict pain and suffering. To come to the morally permissible answer to this dilemma one needs to come to a conclusion of the legitimacy of animal’s pain and suffering and thus how heavily it plays a role in coming to an ethically strong conclusion. Through the exploration of the specific case of the introduction …show more content…

No matter of the pain and suffering that Is brought about by this process, the overall utility and happiness of the ecosystem would need to be put ahead of this consideration. This ethical stance adheres to the principle of Utilitarianism, as it looks to create the most utility from its outcome. Therefore, culling invasive animals creates a healthier native ecosystem and allows hard working Australians that are part of our agricultural sector to increase productivity. Lowering the numbers of the invasive animals (in this example the European red fox) will make people happier as their livestock, predominately lamb, won’t be damaged and the native flora and fauna will be able to continue to flourish without the added pressures of this introduced species on their ecosystem. Traditional utilitarianism aims to create overall happiness and utility amongst all “sentient beings”, that is those with conscious thoughts. Therefore, through the culling of invasive species, in this case the red fox, would maximise happiness in the agriculture industries, and thus utility of all conscious …show more content…

Following the principles of the virtue rule, that being, “you should act as a fully virtuous person, acting in character, would act in the circumstances,” we are challenged to see this argument in a different light. In the ethical dilemma that surrounds the culling of invasive animals the pain and suffering of those animals would need to be taken deeply into consideration. Singer explores this in Practical Ethics, Cambridge, 1979, chap. 3 when he stats, “If a being suffers, there can be no moral justification for refusing to take that suffering into consideration. No matter what the nature of the being, the principle of equality requires that its suffering be counted equally with the like suffering.(2)” In this quote Singer challenges the idea that we as self-aware humans have the right to selectively kill and therefore inflict pain on animals. Singer explains that all beings not just humans require their suffering to be “equally counted”. Following the teachings of Singer we need to consider the pain and suffering of the invasive species and weigh up if their suffering would lessen the suffering of the native species in the long run. Consequently, the same conclusion is found. Using Singer as a Virtuous figure and thus considering the overall

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