Animal Partisan

Animal Partisan Throwing a wrench in the gears of animal exploitation. The situation for most animals in this country is bleak. We have an urgent obligation to resist.

Despite meaningful victories by the animal rights movement over the past several decades, the number of animals slaughtered, exploited, and subjected to abuse continues to rise. The animal agribusiness and research industries are developing new methods that harm animals, including genetic modifications, faster slaughter lines, more gruesome experiments, and larger confinement facilities. While man

y believe that the country is becoming more humane, the truth is that animals suffer now like never before. Although these government-backed industries possess financial, political, and human resources that surpass every animal protection organization combined, the history of conflict is laden with examples of small, tenacious groups that stymied and frustrated larger opponents. We’re a nonprofit legal advocacy organization focused on disrupting and weakening the primary industries of animal exploitation in the United States by discovering, revealing, and challenging unlawful conduct no matter its form. We strive to embody the principles of partisan resistance in a non-violent manner by selectively, aggressively, and creatively engaging in legal advocacy actions aimed at undermining the ability of these industries to abuse and exploit animals. We strive to make cruel practices less profitable, divert resources used to exploit animals, and degrade public confidence in these industries. To alleviate animal suffering, we’ll explore every corner of the legal system upon which these industries must comply—including animal welfare, food safety, permits, accreditation, zoning, environmental, administrative, procedural, business contracts, financial, criminal, and others. We also believe that the world needs more attorneys dedicated to challenging these systems of animal abuse and exploitation. We work to amplify our value beyond direct legal action by mentoring, empowering, and creating opportunities for law students and attorneys to challenge the animal agriculture and research industries.

08/31/2026

Behind every package of meat is an animal who was once alive, aware, and capable of experiencing fear and pain.

Inside a New Jersey slaughterhouse, these animals are treated as products rather than sentient beings. No animal should suffer and die for a meal.

Join us in challenging the systems that enable slaughterhouse cruelty and leave animals off your plate.

(Videos obtained in partnership with )

Join us for Beyond the Law? Challenging Common Farming Exemptions at the 34th Annual Animal Law Conference, hosted by th...
08/24/2026

Join us for Beyond the Law? Challenging Common Farming Exemptions at the 34th Annual Animal Law Conference, hosted by the Animal Legal Defense Fund ().

Saturday, October 17
9:00 – 10:15 a.m. ET

Will Lowrey, Legal Counsel of Animal Partisan, will join Carrie Apfel of for a plenary panel moderated by Delcianna Winders, Professor of Law and Director of the Animal Law and Policy Institute at Vermont Law & Graduate School (). They will examine how legal exemptions shield harmful farming practices from accountability and why these exemptions do not necessarily place farmed animals outside the law’s protection.

Registration for the Animal Law Conference is open. In-person registration closes Tuesday, October 13, 2026, and virtual registration remains available through the conference.

Thank you to everyone who donated and supported our summer fundraising campaign.Your support helps cover expenses like p...
08/21/2026

Thank you to everyone who donated and supported our summer fundraising campaign.

Your support helps cover expenses like public records requests, litigation, and the persistence required to challenge and expose powerful industries that exploit and harm animals.

We’re deeply grateful to everyone who contributed, shared our campaign, or supported our work in any way. We look forward to continuing to protect and defend animals through the legal system.

Jude was a 5-year-old rhesus macaque caged in a laboratory for the Program in Neuroscience at the University of Californ...
08/19/2026

Jude was a 5-year-old rhesus macaque caged in a laboratory for the Program in Neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco where he was being held for chair training for a neuroscience experiment.

Another monkey in Jude’s room was removed after months of invasive brain experiments, followed by a terminal procedure in which researchers killed the animal to examine their tissues. Nine days later, Jude began biting his own ankle. The experimenters acknowledged that social isolation likely contributed to his self-injurious behavior, a disturbing reminder of the psychological toll laboratory confinement can have on highly social, intelligent animals.

But instead of removing Jude from the conditions contributing to his distress, the laboratory euthanized him just 11 days later.

An article recently published in the Animal Advances journal questions the handling of Jude's self-destructive behavior. The article was written by Jonathan Horton, one of the University of California, San Francisco researchers. It notes many unanswered questions about whether meaningful alternatives were exhausted. For example, requests to restore visual contact with another macaque, make it easier to monitor his limbs for injuries, and consult outside experts were declined. Medication was hidden in treats that Jude repeatedly rejected, yet his caregivers continued administering it this way.

Eleven days after Jude first exhibited self-injurious behavior, he was euthanized. Not because he sustained severe injuries, but because of concern that his behavior might worsen.

Jude’s story exposes a profound ethical failure: an animal was placed in an environment that experimenters themselves recognized contributed to psychological distress, and when that distress manifested, the solution was to kill him. Animals like Jude are not disposable tools for researcher and their suffering should never be treated as an acceptable cost of experimentation.

Image credit: "Euthanasia of a macaque with self-injurious behavior in a visual neuroscience laboratory" by J. Horton, Animal Advances Journal, Volume 3 (2026).

Today is National Nonprofit Day and the very last day of our summer fundraiser. We could use your help to power the next...
08/17/2026

Today is National Nonprofit Day and the very last day of our summer fundraiser. We could use your help to power the next phase of our fight for animals.

As we speak, we're building legal cases involving pigs sent to slaughter, mother cows exploited for milk, aquatic animals raised in barren tanks, and much more. We're also helping shape the next generation of animal law by partnering with dozens of students at six different law schools across the country on research projects to support our work.

We set a modest goal to raise $3,000 this summer and we're hoping you to help us reach it today.

Whether you make a one-time gift, become a monthly supporter, or share this campaign, your support directly powers our work to protect farmed animals.

Stand with us this National Nonprofit Day and help fight for a world where animals are free from exploitation.

Donate at www.animalpartisan.org/support.or find us on Venmo at .

Our summer fundraiser is underway, and we’re working to raise $3,000 by August 17 to fuel the legal advocacy, investigat...
08/13/2026

Our summer fundraiser is underway, and we’re working to raise $3,000 by August 17 to fuel the legal advocacy, investigations, and public records work that helps us fight for animals.

Every donation helps us uncover hidden cruelty, hold industries accountable, and use the law as a tool for animals who have no legal voice of their own.

Donate at animalpartisan.org/support

During a routine USDA inspection at Whalen's Meat Packing in North Dakota, an inspector observed a horrific failure in "...
08/07/2026

During a routine USDA inspection at Whalen's Meat Packing in North Dakota, an inspector observed a horrific failure in "humane handling" regulations involving a conscious pig.

The pig was shot with a .410 shotgun in an open area without restraint. After the shot, the pig remained standing, vocalizing, and fully conscious. Then, two employees shoved the conscious pig to the floor and began "sticking" the animal, severing the major blood vessels to induce death by bleeding.

Throughout the entire bleeding process, the pig vocalized, kicked, and struggled continuously, enduring prolonged pain and terror until finally losing consciousness from blood loss.

This pig’s suffering should not be reduced to a few lines in an inspection report. Behind every violation is an animal who experienced the fear and suffering firsthand.

Support Animal Partisan’s work to expose cruelty and hold Big Ag accountable.

Farmed animals are exploited in more ways than most people realize including in Department of War funded laboratories.An...
08/06/2026

Farmed animals are exploited in more ways than most people realize including in Department of War funded laboratories.

Animal Partisan recently uncovered another military-funded study where Yucatan pigs were deliberately subjected to traumatic brain injuries, massive blood loss, invasive surgeries, and simulated aeromedical evacuation flights to study battlefield medicine. The study at issue sought to understand whether flying a severely injured patient soon after trauma can make brain or lung injuries worse.

First, researchers drilled holes into the pigs’ skulls, implanted devices to monitor pressure and blood flow in their brains, and inserted catheters into their arteries before inflicting a traumatic brain injury. They then drained nearly half of each pig’s blood volume to induce hemorrhagic shock and left them in a prolonged state of critical injury before placing them on simulated evacuation flights at altitudes of up to 15,000 feet. After 24 hours of monitoring and repeated blood collection, the surviving pigs were killed so researchers could harvest their brain and lung tissues.

Pigs were selected because their brains and cardiovascular systems resemble those of humans. Yet those same similarities mean they are sentient individuals capable of experiencing fear, pain, and distress.

These pigs were intentionally injured, experimented on, and ultimately killed in the name of military experimentation. Pigs are highly intelligent animals with rich emotional lives, strong memories, and the capacity to experience joy, fear, stress, and suffering. They deserved compassion, not to be used as tools in a laboratory.

Take action: Follow Animal Partisan and share this post to expose what these animals endure.

Ahead of National Nonprofit Day on August 17th, we’re launching our annual summer fundraising campaign to power the next...
08/04/2026

Ahead of National Nonprofit Day on August 17th, we’re launching our annual summer fundraising campaign to power the next phase of our fight for animals.

Goal: $3,000 by August 17th

At Animal Partisan, we use legal advocacy, investigations, and public records to expose hidden cruelty and hold industries accountable. So far this year, your support has driven major victories and exposed systemic failures across the country.

None of this crucial progress for farmed animals can happen without you.

Whether you make a one-time gift, become a monthly supporter, or share this campaign, every action directly powers our work to end the exploitation of animals on farms, in slaughterhouses, and in laboratories.Stand with us this National Nonprofit Day to give animals a voice where it matters most.

Donate online at at www.animalpartisan.org/support.

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405 E. Laburnum Avenue, Suite 3 #44
Richmond, VA
23222

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