Priority Goals for Animal Welfare Progress

Evidence-based prioritization of animal welfare goals suggests focusing on scale, severity and tractability to achieve the greatest reduction in animal suffering per unit of effort and resources.

Key Facts

Farm animals account for approximately 70% of all vertebrate animals living under human care at any time
Fish account for more individual wild-caught deaths than all other fishing species combined
The most cost-effective welfare interventions include cage-free campaigns, Better Chicken Commitment and corporate engagement
Wild animal suffering from disease, parasites and starvation may affect far more animals than human-caused harms
Neglected species with high sentience evidence and limited advocacy include crustaceans, fish and insects

Welfare Considerations

Prioritizing animal welfare goals requires considering three factors: scale (how many animals are affected), severity (how intense is the suffering) and tractability (how achievable is improvement). By these criteria, farm animal welfare — particularly chickens and fish — deserves high priority because of the enormous numbers involved, the severity of conditions in intensive production, and the demonstrated tractability through corporate campaigns and policy change. Wild animal welfare deserves growing attention as a neglected cause affecting even larger numbers. Effective welfare advocacy allocates attention and resources proportionally to these factors rather than simply responding to emotional salience or personal familiarity with particular species.

What You Can Do

Engage with cause prioritization frameworks from Animal Charity Evaluators to inform your welfare advocacy
Allocate advocacy and financial resources toward high-impact causes including fish and chicken welfare
Support neglected welfare causes including crustacean welfare and wild animal welfare research
Use scale-severity-tractability thinking when deciding which campaigns and organizations to support