Rumble in the urban jungle: moral dilemmas in the management of liminal rodents perceived as pests

Non-human animals (hereafter ‘animals’) populate food production chains in abundance. Discussions about the treatment and welfare of animals usually concern livestock. However, within food production chains many more animals are involved. For the purpose of e.g. food safety, human and animal health, hygiene and safety of stables, large numbers of liminal rodents are killed (with some methods inflicting significant levels of suffering). Whereas the welfare of animals used for food production attracts ever-increasing societal concern, animals perceived as pests are paid scant attention. Considering that rodents have similar capacities to suffer compared to animals used for food production, consistency appears to require that we take their interests into account as well. A stakeholder consultation performed in 2018 by the Centre for Sustainable Animal Stewardship (CenSAS) on the topic of pest management highlighted a shared need to take the moral status and welfare of liminal rodents more seriously. Together with stakeholders, CenSAS is working on the development of an assessment frame for responsible pest management. In order to identify relevant moral concerns and dilemmas, as well as to develop an adequate assessment frame that will support decision-making in practice, the knowledge and experience of pest management professionals is indispensable. That is why we have sent out a survey among these professionals. At the time of writing these words, the results are not available yet. The paper will look into the philosophy behind the survey. At the EurSafe conference in Tampere, Finland, we’ll be able to discuss the relevance of our findings, as well as present the first version of our assessment frame for sustainable and responsible pest management.