Book here.

This webinar has been jointly organised with the Insect Welfare Research Society

For many reasons, we may want to lethally collect insects (and other arthropods). But increasing evidence suggests there’s cause to consider the welfare of these animals and that some may have the capacity for pain or suffering. With uncertain evidence of sentience in insects, how should the morally-considerate collector precede? This webinar will discuss currently available methods for anesthesia and killing of insects collected in the wild as well as some general best practices for harm reduction according to the 3Rs. It will briefly cover evidence for sentience in insects before moving onto practical details or anesthesia and killing, emphasize what is known, what is recommended by invertebrate-specializing veterinarians, and the large amount of information that is unknown about humane killing for insects. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask practical questions – and will leave better informed about which practices may cause harm, how to improve those practices with the information and resources we have available, and what still needs to be researched, empowering them to make all-things-considered best judgments about when and how to collect.

Our speaker: Meghan Barrett, PhD (Indiana University Indianapolis), is an insect neuroscientist and physiologist by training now researching topics of insect welfare including humane anesthesia and slaughter techniques for farmed insects. She is an assistant professor of biology at Indiana University Indianapolis and the founding director of the Insect Welfare Research Society.

This session will run on Zoom. If you are new to Zoom you will need to create a Zoom account and download their software. This is all free and you can do so here.

You can use a laptop/desktop computer, smartphone or tablet and it isn’t necessary to have a webcam or microphone to participate.

Further info on how to join a zoom meeting can be found here.