Fischer Bob
Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas, USA.
Zoo Biol. 2025 Jul-Aug;44(4):353-359. doi: 10.1002/zoo.21902. Epub 2025 Apr 22.
While there is no consensus about whether insects are sentient, the possibility alone raises an important question for zoos and aquariums. What ethical responsibilities, if any, do zoos and aquariums have concerning their feeder insects? There has been very little scholarly discussion of these questions. This is not surprising, as scholars have largely ignored feeder animals. So, this paper takes up two tasks. First, it surveys the main welfare-focused ethical questions associated with feeder animals generally and feeder insects in particular. The aim here is to identify the main considerations that bear on a full assessment of the ethics of using feeder animals as a resource, thereby facilitating future research. Second, in the interest of making practical recommendations in the face of significant moral complexity and uncertainty, this paper adopts a standard institutional ethical framework-the 3Rs-and considers its implications for the use of feeder insects.
虽然对于昆虫是否有感知能力尚无共识，但仅这一可能性就给动物园和水族馆提出了一个重要问题。动物园和水族馆对其作为饲料的昆虫负有哪些伦理责任（如果有的话）？关于这些问题的学术讨论非常少。这并不奇怪，因为学者们在很大程度上忽略了作为饲料的动物。因此，本文承担两项任务。首先，它概述了与一般饲料动物特别是饲料昆虫相关的主要以福利为重点的伦理问题。这里的目的是确定在全面评估将饲料动物作为一种资源的伦理问题时的主要考虑因素，从而推动未来的研究。其次，鉴于面临重大的道德复杂性和不确定性，为了提出切实可行的建议，本文采用了一个标准的机构伦理框架——3R原则，并考虑其对饲料昆虫使用的影响。
