Hi comrades, don't mean to hijack the convo but WAS is something I've been thinking about a lot lately! I literally made this post on a vegan leftist FB group today:

Hi all. I wanted to ask if any of you are familiar with the term “Sentientism” and whether you think humans have a moral obligation to actively intervene in the suffering of animals in nature. Should we aim to mitigate/eliminate the effects of things like predation, starvation and disease for non-human animals, who don’t have the capacity to engineer technical solutions to these things themselves? Veganism is a moral baseline, IMO, but does the welfare of non-human animals fall into the purview of leftism? Would love to hear your thoughts!

To which someone commented:

I’ve been wondering about this lately, too! I see my veganism as a boycott of animal exploitation and oppression by humans, as well as feminist solidarity with all nonhuman animals, whose bodily autonomy is violated in both reproductive and non-reproductive ways. While I do think reducing suffering is an admirable goal in the broad sense, and I’m sympathetic to the idea that humans should intervene in the healthcare of nonhuman animals, for me the possibility of intervention in starvation and predation begins to feel fraught, paternalistic, and as if it could compromise the autonomy of obligate carnivores. That being said, I’m really new to this myself and would love to see as much discussion as possible on it. To anyone reading this: I’ve seen a whole lot of resources on the topic but feel overwhelmed and don’t know where I should start on it. Does anyone have personal recommendations?

My response:

Really appreciate the response, and I'm totally in agreement with everything you've said! The reason I'm a leftist and a vegan is because I think suffering is bad and that we should aim to reduce harm wherever possible. I think the criteria for moral consideration is sentience-- the capacity to suffer. I feel like, as humans, we are uniquely equipped with the intelligence to alleviate suffering, and that we should harness our sapience for the benefit of all sentient beings. "From each according to their ability to each according to their need", as it were. That being said I share your concerns re: paternalism. I feel like a lot of leftists may dismiss the idea of wild animal welfare as "meddling". Some might even say it's a colonial mindset. I'm not sure how to reconcile my leftist views with my sympathy for the plight of animals, both domesticated and wild.

I'd love to pick y'all's brains on this too :) (Sorry to insert myself into this exchange, I'm just so ecstatic to see fellow leftists discuss animal ethics!)