Since almost all bugs that humans kill are killed outside laboratories, there's a need for more research on euthanasia methods that laypeople can use. There has actually been research on insect euthanasia ( Wikipedia "Insect euthanasia"), but unfortunately, most of those methods are targeted at laboratory researchers who have access to chemicals or other special equipment and expertise. This article describes two euthanasia methods that I use. It's an important question where the cutoff is at which euthanasia becomes the better option, and opinions are likely to differ on this point. Likewise, I suspect it's better to euthanize slowly dying bugs, such as flies that enter your house in the fall and eventually stumble around from exhaustion. For example, if you've accidentally stepped on and half-crushed an insect, you should probably fully crush it immediately rather than leaving it to die slowly. However, it does seem that bug euthanasia is sometimes warranted. I generally err on the side of not killing healthy bugs because my euthanasia methods are probably not pain-free, and I worry about increasing total deaths per unit time by killing bugs prematurely ( Tomasik "How. It's a difficult question how to handle invertebrates like flies, ants, and beetles in one's house in a way that minimizes total invertebrate suffering ( Tomasik "Speculations. Method 2: Freezing (probably less advisable).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |