Alleviating animal suffering through the eradication of the New World Screwworm: rationale, evidence, and strategy
Welcome to the RP Strategic Animal Webinars and the talk and Q&A session: “Alleviating animal suffering through the eradication of the New World Screwworm”
Date: Thursday, July 2nd (10 AM PDT, 1 PM EDT, 6 PM BST, 7 PM CEST)
About: The New World Screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax) is a parasitic fly endemic to the Americas whose larvae burrow into the open wounds of warm-blooded living animals and consume their flesh from the inside. Affected animals suffer immensely, often dying slowly over days or weeks. The screwworm affects wild, companion, and farmed animals, harming hundreds of millions of them across the Americas every year (in endemic regions, an estimated 1–4% of warm-blooded wild animals are infested at any given time).
In this webinar, Pablo Sar, a researcher of practical ethics at the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, will present the evidence and ethical case for eradicating the New World Screwworm, drawing on his forthcoming work with Pr. Óscar Horta. He will be joined by Dr. Diego Expósito, Policy Lead at Screwworm Free Future, who will discuss how to achieve continent-wide suppression of the fly in practice and the strategy for reaching a screwworm-free Americas.
In particular, they will discuss:
Why the New World Screwworm constitutes a serious animal welfare problem, and what the scale of suffering looks like
The ethics behind the case for eradication, and how to weigh the moral status and interests of screwworms themselves when designing and advocating for eradication interventions
The current opportunity to initiate New World Screwworm control plans across the Americas
Screwworm Free Future’s work to advance continent-wide suppression, their traction, needs, and what comes next
Whether you are a researcher, an advocate, or a funder interested in reducing suffering among farmed and wild animals, this session will offer a grounded look at a promising near-term opportunity in wild animal welfare.
Speakers:
Pablo Sar is a researcher in practical ethics, AI ethics, philosophy of AI, and animal ethics. He holds an MSt in Practical Ethics from the University of Oxford and degrees in Philosophy and History from the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. He is currently involved in research projects on animal ethics, artificial sentience, and moral consideration at the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. His work focuses on the boundaries of moral consideration, animal suffering, and the ethical implications of artificial minds.
Dr. Diego Expósito is Policy Lead at Screwworm Free Future, an advocacy organization working for the continental control of the New World Screwworm. He completed his PhD in political philosophy at the University of Sheffield, where his research focused on our moral and political duties toward wild animals living in human-controlled spaces. He has also worked as a facilitator in Electric Sheep’s Futurekind Fellowship, guiding sessions on the intersection of AI development and animal welfare. At Screwworm Free Future, he oversees the organization's research agenda, collaborating with leading scientists and academics, and synthesizing data into actionable policy recommendations.
Format: We’ll start with two short presentations, followed by an extended Q&A session.