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Pig Industry Takes the Will of the People to Court

Pigs in gestation crates in Quebec. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media

Sow gestation crates are on trial. A life spent crammed in these tight, dank enclosures is the grim reality for millions of pigs who can’t turn around, walk or avoid aggression from their neighbours.

California voters passed a law in 2018 to define the minimum space needed for some farm animals called Proposition 12. The pig industry challenged the law, and their case went to the Supreme Court on Oct 11. The court's decision on whether to strike or uphold Prop12 will most likely come out in early spring. 

Stakes are high in this landmark case. We invite you to use our visuals of pigs in gestation crates to help tell this story. 

Read More

Chaos + Mercy for Kaporos Chickens

A child makes eye contact with a chicken being used at the annual kaporos ritual in New York. Victoria de Martigny / We Animals Media
Kaporos is an annual atonement ritual practiced by orthodox Jews. Each year, approximately 100,000 hens are trucked into New York and spend days with no food, water or weather protection before being killed at pop-up street slaughterhouses. 

Jewish and non-Jewish animal advocates are calling for the use of nonviolent methods in the ritual, as practiced in Orthodox communities elsewhere. Some Jewish advocates oppose chicken sacrifice on the grounds of Tza'ar ba'alei chayim, which prohibits causing animals unnecessary suffering. Three of our animal photojournalists were on the ground to document this year's event.

 
At Kaporos

Meet Photojournalist Molly Condit 

An American volunteer holds a Ukrainian shelter dog by the kennels at Domivka Vryatovanykh Tvaryn, an animal shelter and temporary holding facility for animals displaced by war. Molly Condit / We Animals Media
Earlier this year We Animals Media photojournalist Molly Condit was in Ukraine and Poland to document animal rescue efforts amidst the Russian invasion. Most recently, she was in New York documenting ritual chicken slaughter at Kaporos.   
Activists provide care to injured birds rescued from Kaporos. Photos: Molly Condit / We Animals Media
“To be honest, I’m still processing a lot of what I saw during those two days of filming. Witnessing the indifference and insensitivity expressed towards the chickens was quite chilling, and our presence as photojournalists was contested everywhere. It was also very technically challenging with the constant rain and wind, but I think we all kept remembering how much worse it was for the animals.”

A day after Kaporos, Molly flew down to Puerto Rico to document issues facing companion animals on the island. 
Read Molly's Interview
In November, Jo-Anne will be investigating factory farms in two African countries. It’s a big undertaking and we’ll be working with several local NGOs and videographers on numerous campaigns.
 
Factory farming is growing in Africa and is highly undercovered. Local campaigners looking to contest this industry before it becomes entrenched need investigative capacity like ours to communicate to policymakers, citizens, academics and media. 
 
Field work is the core of what we do and we need your continued support to make investigations like this happen and ensure they get the maximum reach.

 
Donate To Help Us Continue Our Field Work
Our Latest Stories

Three Wins at WPY

Emily Small, founder of the Goongerah Wombat Orphanage, with two young orphaned bare-nosed wombats sleeping in a home-made pouch on her couch while she works in her Melbourne apartment, stuck 450 km away from the orphanage after a covid-19 lockdown. Photo credit: Douglas Gimesy
This year, three We Animals Media / HIDDEN photojournalists received awards at Wildlife Photographer of the Year: Jo-Anne McArthur,  Britta Jaschinski, and Douglas Gimesy.

Of his winning wombat image (above), Douglas says: "I hope the success of this image helps bring awareness to the tragic (and often preventable) issue of wildlife road trauma. This trauma impacts the wildlife, their young, those who hit them, and the carers who look after them."

Over two million people will see the winning animal photos in exhibits and countless more will see them in the media. We’re thrilled to be part of the growing community of photographers telling animal stories through photojournalism.

A heartfelt congratulations to the photojournalism story winners Karine Aigner and Brent Stirton.

 
See all Winners

Together at Our Team Retreat 

Some of the We Animals Media team members at the annual team retreat in Toronto this month. 
The growing We Animals Media team (or as we like to say, the WAM fam!) recently gathered for our annual team retreat. We met up in Toronto, Canada, for three fruitful days of strategizing, planning and connecting. 
 
Meet the Team

Sarah Heiligtag's Transfarmation

In this new short film, see how Sarah works to fundamentally change the farming system, rather than oppose agriculture or close individual farms.

Guilty of Compassion

Animal advocates Amy Soranno and Nick Schafer leave the law courts in Abbotsford, Canada after their sentencing hearing. Suzanne Goodwin / We Animals Media
“I’m not surprised. It’s kind of what we expected. I’m upset. I don’t feel justice has been served. We try hard to fight for the greater good.” — Nick Schafer, animal advocate and We Animals Media contributor (via CTV News).

On Wednesday, October 12, 2022, Nick Schafer and Amy Soranno were sentenced to 30 days in jail after being found guilty of mischief and break and enter after exposing animal suffering at a pig farm in British Columbia, Canada. This is an unprecedented Canadian case in which animal advocates have been incarcerated for nonviolent civil disobedience.
Read more about Nick and Amy’s sentencing.

But there’s good news for animal advocacy this month too. Recently Wayne Hsiung and Paul Picklesimer, both on trial for felony burglary and theft after rescuing two dying baby pigs from a Smithfield farm were acquitted. Read Wayne's op-ed here.
Wayne Hsiung is an American attorney and activist. Hsiung is a co-founder of the animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DXE). Here, he offers apples to rescued goats at Farm Sanctuary. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media
Getting Animals in the Media

Gift A Signed Book This Holiday

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In Case You Missed It:

"The place would feel haunted but for the sun streaming in and the plants and vines pushing through concrete… I want the Earth to reclaim everything here."

On this day, photographer Jo-Anne McArthur visited two pig farms: one industrial, packed with thousands of pigs, and one long abandoned. 
Watch the Video
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