When billions of animals are affected by welfare decisions, systematic thinking about scale, tractability, and neglectedness helps maximize welfare impact per resource invested.
Applying scale, tractability, and neglectedness analysis to animal welfare reveals significant misalignment between where resources are concentrated and where welfare impact is largest. Companion animals receive most welfare attention and resources while farmed fish, farmed insects, and wild animals affect far larger numbers of individuals. Effective welfare improvement requires thinking systematically about where marginal resources create most benefit.