Wildland Firefighter crews work throughout the night as they back-burn areas of the Caldor Fire to prevent further spread.
Nikki Ritcher / We Animals Media

Animals Endangered by Wildfires in California and BC

This summer was hot as hellfire and we sent our team to photograph what that meant for animals. During Western Canada’s and California’s wildfires, Nikki Ritcher and an anonymous APJ shot animals surrounded by smoke and ash; heroes in overdrive hauling animals to safety in evacuation zones; and firecrews and choppers battling blazes that threatened human and animal lives. Global warming exacerbates disasters like these not only for us, but for the animals whose emissions contribute to the very problem.

Tens of thousands of young chickens in a multi-level industrial farm.
Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media

VII Insider Introduces Animal Photojournalism

What is animal photojournalism? What are the issues in documenting violence? What is the effect of APJ on the world? You can hear it from Jo-Anne herself on October 6th when she talks APJ with the renowned photo agency VII Insider. This is a talk between experts in their fields; you can expect the event to confront big ideas in APJ as they discuss the challenges of capturing atrocities and the impact of these visuals on audiences and for animals.

An animal Control Officer safely rescues a goat in an active fire zone near Grizzly Flats, CA.
Nikki Ritcher / We Animals Media

Having our APJs shoot wildfires is expensive and challenging and absolutely worth it. Animals deserve to have their stories shown and we are here to show them. Will you help us keep doing it?

A pig screams as she is clubbed before slaughter in Thailand.
Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media for The Guardian

Food Photography and APJ

“When someone says ‘food photography’... you probably think of cake, not conflict” opens Jo-Anne’s interview with BBC’s The Food Chain. Emily Thomas asks Jo-Anne about the image above shot in a Thai slaughterhouse: its composition, its context and its effect on us as viewers. The image is distressing and graphic, yet arresting. While food photography focuses on the beauty of food, animal photojournalism artfully compels us to look at the ugliness of our relationship to the animals we use as food.