Ethics of Wildlife Fertility Control

在美国的许多地区，白尾鹿的数量“很大，而且在不断增长，被认为给人类社区带来了许多问题。”在其中一些地区，使用了致命措施来扑杀牛群;在另一些地区，公民呼吁采取免疫避孕或手术绝育等生育控制方法。在其他地方，野猫也存在类似的管理问题。由于猫被许多人当作宠物饲养，一些州制定了法律，为“野猫”提供了一种保护措施，使其免受其他有害物种所缺乏的致命控制。鹿和猫数量过多的例子提出了许多有趣的伦理问题，即通过操纵动物的生殖系统来管理动物是否合适。为了解决这些问题，本研究依赖于两个组成部分：一个经验的描述性成分和规范的哲学成分。在描述性部分，调查人员问：人们对野生动物生育控制的看法是什么，为什么他们相信他们所相信的？在规范部分，核心问题是：人们对控制妇女生育的道德信念与哲学文献的内容相匹配的程度如何？本项目的目标是：（1）描述人们用来支持他们对鹿和野猫生育控制判断的伦理论点;（2）识别影响这些判断的生育控制方法的特征;（3）综合伦理文献中与人们对野生动物生育控制的论点相关的作品;（4）在此基础上分析人们对野生动物生育控制的争论，对争论的分类将为后续的伦理分析提供依据，在其中的信念和论点中描述的经验组成部分将分析其有效性和说服力的基础上分析相关的道德文学这项研究将有助于提高野生动物管理中生育控制的审议质量的建议。在未来的研究中，研究人员将利用这项研究的结果来指导教育策略的设计和测试，这将有助于利益相关者更好地考虑有关野生动物生育控制的不同决定的伦理后果。改善人们对野生动物生育控制的伦理后果的教育方式将有助于确保管理决策基于对这些问题的伦理层面的彻底考虑。

In many areas of the country, white-tailed deer populations "are large, growing, and perceived to be causing many problems for f1uman comunities. In some of these areas, lethal measures have been used to cull the herds; in others, citizens have called for fertility control methods such as immunocontraception or surgical sterilization. In other locations, feral cats present a similar management problem. Because cats are kept as pets by many people, some states have laws offering "wild" cats a measure of protection from lethal control that other nuisance species lack. The examples of deer and cat overpopulation raise many interesting ethical questions about the appropriateness of managing animals by manipulating their reproductive systems. To address these questions, this study relies on two components: an empirical descriptive component and a normative philosophical component. In the descriptive component, the investigators ask: what do people believe about wildlife fertility control, and why do they believe what they believe? In the normative component, the central question is: how well do peoples' moral beliefs about wi1dlife fertility control match the content of philosophical literature? The objectives of this project are to: (1) characterize the ethical arguments people use to support their judgments about fertility control for deer and feral cats; (2) identify the characteristics of fertility control methods that influence these judgments; (3) synthesize works in the ethical literature that have relevance to people's arguments about wildlife fertility control; and (4) analyze people's arguments about wildlife fertility control based on this synthesis.The classification of arguments will provide the basis for the subsequent ethical analysis, in which the beliefs and arguments described in the empirical component will be analyzed for their validity and cogency based on an analysis of the relevant ethical literature. This research will help to generate recommendations for improving the quality of deliberation about fertility control in wildlife management. In future research, the investigators will use the results of this study to guide the design and testing of educational strategies that will help stakeholders better consider the ethical ramifications of different decisions about wildlife fertility control. Improving how people are educated about the ethical ramifications of wildlife fertility control will help to ensure that management decisions are based on a thorough consideration of the ethical dimensions of these issues.