We Animals

08/10/2026

Dandelions taste a little sweeter when you’re free to enjoy them.

Moments like this remind us of the world we’re working toward—a world where every animal is free to simply be themselves, surrounded by care, compassion, and the freedom to live on their own terms.

A kinder world is possible. Do you agree? 🧡

🎥: Jo, an elderly cow rescued from the dairy industry, accepts an offering of tasty dandelion flowers while she stands in a pasture at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary. High Falls, New York, USA, 2024. Jo-Anne McArthur (Jo-Anne McArthur ) / We Animals

08/10/2026

We Animals is hiring!

We are seeking an Interim Executive Director to provide steady leadership during an 18-month parental leave coverage period.

This is a senior leadership role responsible for maintaining organizational momentum, supporting our team, overseeing financial and operational health, and advancing We Animals’ existing strategic and fundraising priorities. The ideal candidate is an experienced nonprofit leader who can step into an established organization, build trust quickly, and lead with clarity, care, and sound judgment.

Location: Remote, with a preference for candidates whose working hours allow for at least 3–4 hours of regular overlap with Eastern Time. We particularly encourage candidates based in Canada, the Americas, the UK, Ireland, Portugal, and similar time zones to apply. Candidates outside these regions may also be considered where scheduling and employment arrangements are workable.

Contract: 18 months, starting November 9, 2026
Salary: $110,000 CAD
Apply by: September 4, 2026, at 12:00 pm EDT

Questions about this role or working at We Animals? Ask us anything below!

Learn more and apply here ⬇️
https://weanimals.org/work-with-us/join-our-team/interim-executive-director-18-month-contract-parental-leave-coverage/ 🧡

08/06/2026

Farm Sanctuary is celebrating 40 years!

We Animals founder, Jo-Anne McArthur, will be joining an inspiring lineup of speakers at Farm Sanctuary’s Hoedown: 40 years on August 15-16.

This special weekend celebrates four decades of compassion, courage, and change. It's an opportunity to connect with fellow advocates, hear from inspiring speakers, and experience the heart of sanctuary life through meaningful conversations and time with the animal residents.

Join us in celebrating this milestone and the movement for animals. Head to the event page for tickets and more information.⬇️
https://www.farmsanctuary.org/events/hoedown-weekend/

08/06/2026

We Animals Stock Platform: What’s New 📷

We’re rolling out a few updates to our stock platform to make your experience smoother and more intuitive.

Most of these changes are small improvements to labels and navigation, designed to help you find what you need faster.

Swipe through for a quick guide to what’s changing and why.

Visit https://stock.weanimals.org/ to explore more than 40,000 photos and videos of animals, free for non-commercial use.

08/05/2026

This is a common procedure in shrimp farming, yet most people have never witnessed it.

Shrimp are among the most numerous animals raised by humans. Billions are bred and killed every year, yet they remain among the least visible.

At a hatchery in Indonesia, We Animals photojournalist Ulet Ifansasti documented a practice rarely seen by the public: eyestalk ablation.

The procedure, which involves amputating one eyestalk from female breeding shrimp to stimulate egg production, is widely used in commercial shrimp hatcheries around the world.

As scientific evidence continues to show that decapod crustaceans, including shrimp, can experience pain and distress, eyestalk ablation has come under increasing scrutiny from researchers and animal welfare experts.

Witnessing the realities these individuals endure can shift our perspective—and influence the compassion we extend to them.

📷: Undisclosed location, East Java, Indonesia, 2026. Ulet Ifansasti () / Animal Welfare Observatory () / We Animals

08/04/2026

We Animals is proud to support the Nature & Humans photo contest, which recognizes images that invite reflection on our relationship, both positive and fraught, with the natural world and other animals.

Featured here is Uncovering What’s Hidden, a poignant image of a deceased piglet on a factory farm. Captured by We Animals contributor human.cruelties, this powerful work was named the winner in the Conservation Photographer category last year.

We invite photographers in our network—especially those bearing witness to the lives of farmed and exploited animals who so often remain invisible—to submit their work and join this conversation.

Discover more and enter at the link: www.natureandhumans.com

08/01/2026

Why does drone photography matter?

For photographers, drones provide a safe, affordable, and legal way to visually document places that can be difficult to observe from the ground. While photographs taken from the ground remain essential, drones provide perspectives that are often impossible to capture otherwise.

“So much of what happens to farmed animals is deliberately hidden from public view. Drone imagery provides a unique window into their world, exposing issues of public interest. At We Animals, drone photography has helped us document the scale of industrial animal agriculture, verify animal welfare claims, and capture the impacts of disasters, mass mortality events, and environmental harm. It is not about intrusion; it’s about transparency and accountability. “

- Victoria de Martigny, We Animals Director of Visual Content

That’s why we’re concerned about the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) proposed drone restrictions. While the proposal does not automatically restrict drone access to all agricultural facilities, it could create a pathway for some facilities to seek restrictions on aerial documentation.

We believe responsible drone photography serves the public interest. Our concern is not that drone operators must meet safety and licensing standards—they already operate within a framework of federal, state, and local regulations designed to promote safety. Rather, it is that site-specific flight restrictions could prevent journalists and photographers from documenting matters of public interest.

Public comments are open until August 5.

Read our latest blog to learn more about the proposal and submit a public comment: https://weanimals.org/2026/06/25/faa-considers-new-drone-restrictions-near-fixed-site-facilities/

🎥: Tens of thousands of cattle live in bare dirt corrals next to green crops on a sprawling dairy farm in the desert. Many of the corrals offer the animals no protection from the elements. Willcox, Arizona, USA, 2023. Ram Daya / We Animals

07/31/2026

A fisherman carries a shark at a market in a region that's one of the largest exporters of shark fin to China. Lombok, Indonesia, 2013.

This photograph is one of the 204 images included in the book HIDDEN: Animals in the Anthropocene, published by We Animals. HIDDEN is an unflinching book of photographs documenting our relationship with non-human animals around the globe, as depicted through the lenses of 40 award-winning photojournalists.

📷: Paul Hilton / Earth Tree Images / HIDDEN / We Animals

07/31/2026

Visuals from our recent shrimp farming investigation with Animal Welfare Observatory have been featured by National Geographic España helping bring the realities of industrial shrimp farming to an even wider audience.

The investigation documents the environmental destruction of mangrove ecosystems in Ecuador, as well as practices that raise serious animal welfare concerns, including ineffective stunning methods and the routine eyestalk ablation of female shrimp.

This recognition demonstrates the value of collaborative investigations and how photojournalism can reveal realities that might otherwise remain unseen.

Thank you to Observatorio de Bienestar Animal for the partnership, and to We Animals photojournalists Marcos Zegers and Ulet Ifansasti for documenting this important work.

We're proud to see animal photojournalism helping inform global conversations through trusted media outlets like National Geographic España.

Read the article:⬇️

Descubre el mundo en la web de la revista National Geographic: actualidad, reportajes, fotos espectaculares y vídeos sobre ciencia, naturaleza, historia y viajes

07/30/2026

Without aerial photography, the scale of animal agriculture is easy to hide.

These visuals may look familiar. In 2023, We Animals photojournalist Ram Daya used drone photography to document megadairies and feedlots in Arizona, revealing thousands of calves confined in solitary hutches stretching as far as the eye could see, inadequate shade, and dead and decomposing animals.

Images like these help expose the true scale of industrial animal agriculture—something that is nearly impossible to grasp from the ground.

“My normal approach to assignments is to be very physically close to who or what I’m photographing. But to show the scale of the cattle and dairy industry in Arizona, it had to be done from the air. To see a calf born and immediately taken from their mother, to watch the carcass of a dead cow dumped unceremoniously next to others; these actions would be invisible from anywhere but a bird’s eye view or through deep investigative work. And that’s why these investigations are important—they make the unseen seen.”
― Ram Daya, animal photojournalist

Now, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is proposing new drone restrictions that could limit aerial documentation over certain facilities, including some tied to industrial animal agriculture.

For photojournalists, drones are an essential tool for documenting what would otherwise remain unseen. Restricting that access could make it harder to expose animal welfare concerns, environmental impacts, and the realities of industrial farming.

Public comments on the proposal are open until August 5. If you are a photographer, journalist, advocate, researcher, or anyone who values transparency and public access to information, we encourage you to review the proposal and consider submitting a comment.

Learn why aerial photojournalism matters, what's being proposed, and how you can submit a public comment before August 5: https://weanimals.org/2026/06/25/faa-considers-new-drone-restrictions-near-fixed-site-facilities/

📷: Arizona, USA, 2023. Ram Daya / We Animals
1-3. Tens of thousands of calf hutches stretch across a massive dairy farm.
4-5. Cows occupy large, bare dirt corrals on a vast dairy farm.
6-8. Vultures circle above and approach the bodies of decomposing dead cattle discarded in a feedlot yard.