Animal Equality
| Founded | 2006 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Sharon Núñez, Javier Moreno and Jose Valle |
| Focus | Animal rights |
| Location |
|
Area served | United States, Spain, UK, India, Italy, Germany, Mexico and Brazil |
| Method | Investigations, Education, Corporate Outreach, Legal Advocacy |
Key people | President: Sharon Núñez |
| Website | animalequality.org |
Animal Equality is an international animal rights organisation that believes in a world where all animals are respected and protected. Currently, Animal Equality has offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Germany and India. Animal Equality believes in the protection of all animals, but decided to focus on working with society, governments, and companies to end cruelty to farmed animals in 2016.
While around 80 billion land animals are being farmed for human consumption at any given minute worldwide, only few animal rights organizations have positioned themselves in this segment. As an effective altruist organization, the scale of factory farming gives Animal Equality the opportunity to have an enormous impact for animals and the multi-level solution approach (see activities) exponentially increases their effectiveness.
History[edit]
The organization was founded in 2006 in Madrid, Spain, by Sharon Núñez, Jose Valle and Javier Moreno.
Animal Equality started out mainly with leafleting and tabling, but on October 4th 2016 the organization organized its first protest outside of a slaughterhouse in Madrid. The protest gained media attention and brought attention to the plight endured by animals raised for food. The protest participants ended up facing a trial for chaining themselves to the slaughterhouse gates, but were found not guilty. Animal Equality has always engaged in non-violent resistance, analyzing each action before implementing it to ensure the support of the majority of the public.
Additional actions included lowering banners during Seville's most important bull-fighting event to demand abolition of this cruel custom, as well as interrupting catwalks to protest fur.
Inspired by Australian activist, Patty Mark, Animal Equality's first action in a farm was an open rescue. Activists don't hide their faces when they enter farms to rescue animals that are in immediate need of immediate care. Often the activists are accompanied by media during open rescues. Since 2007 Animal Equality has rescued over 70 animals in the UK, Spain, Italy and Germany.
In 2008, Animal Equality started its first campaign against Campofrio, one of Spain's biggest meat producers.
The organization started investigations in 2007. In 2008, it released its first investigation inside Spanish slaughterhouses, called Mataderos. The footage from this investigation is still being used today. The artist Banksy for example integrated it into an art installation in 2013.
Animal Equality's biggest investigation to date took three years to complete and contains footage from 172 pig farms and slaughterhouses - some of them award-winning - from all over Spain. It resulted in a 45-minute documentary and was featured on one of Spain's most important news channels.
The organization spent many years campaigning and protesting the fur industry, which lead to the arrest of eleven activists facing up to five years in jail. While facing jail time, Animal Equality actively brought awareness to the repression of activists and organized the Congress Against Repression in Madrid that brought together activists from all around the world, but also politicians, and media. The legal case was dismissed due to overwhelming public support. In 2012, Animal Equality concluded its first foie gras investigation into farms in France and Spain. It received a two-page feature in one of Spain's leading newspapers and led to one foie gras farm being closed down and a case being opened against one of Spain's best restaurants that was supplied by the farm. Animal Equality, and many other animal rights organizations, are still working towards a ban on foie gras production.
Strategic priorities[edit]
Caged hens[edit]
There are 6.6 billion hens worldwide, producing more than 1 trillion eggs each year. Most of these animals are confined in battery cages, no bigger than an iPad, unable to even spread their wings. Our investigators expose the horrific conditions these birds are kept in. Even in the EU, where battery cages were banned in 2012, so-called ‘enriched cages’ are still prolific and cause intense suffering. All commercial hens used for eggs start out life at hatcheries. Since male chicks don't lay eggs, and are not used in the meat industry (instead, faster growing birds are used for meat), they are considered ‘useless’ and are suffocated, gassed or minced alive at a day old. Commercial hens are kept alive on farms for their ability to produce eggs. As soon as hens pass their peak and start laying fewer eggs than before, they are slaughtered. It is Animal Equality's strategic priority to work with politicians, companies, and citizens to eliminate cages for hens.
Chickens bred for meat[edit]
Each year more than 50 billion chickens are raised and killed for meat. Upwards of 250,000 chickens crammed into one factory farm. Selectively bred, these birds grow so rapidly that their legs often cannot support the weight of their oversized bodies, and many suffer crippling leg disorders or heart attacks. Chickens are intelligent, sociable creatures who like to forage, to be with their companions, to bathe in sand, and bask in the sun. For these reasons they suffer enormously when they are deprived of their freedom and devoid of the opportunity to exhibit natural behaviors, just as we would suffer if we were unable to do what we longed to do. It is Animal Equality's strategic priority to work with politicians, companies, and citizens to reduce the suffering of chickens by advocating for animal welfare improvements and encouraging the reduction of chicken meat consumption.
Farmed fish[edit]
So great are the numbers of fish that die for human consumption that it is difficult to calculate just how many. Despite the numbers in which they are caught and how they are regarded, fish are individuals with the capacity to experience pleasure and pain, as confirmed by numerous scientific studies. On fish farms many thousands of fish are crammed together and forced to swim in circles. Parasites and infections run rampant on fish farms, and can spread to wild fish.
Key areas of focus[edit]
- Animals raised and killed for food who suffer the most, and die in the largest number
- Bringing about incremental change for farmed animals
- Reasons why change is needed and how to create it
- Expanding into countries where there is the greatest opportunity to protect farmed animals
- Revealing the cruelty behind factory farming
- Research-based interventions
Achievements[edit]
Legislation[edit]
In response to Animal Equality's year of campaigning in Jalisco, Mexico and the findings of our investigation into the state's slaughterhouses, lawmakers approved Jalisco Without Cruelty in 2019, a historic initiative making cruelty to farmed animals in the State a crime.
In 2018, Animal Equality was part of a coalition that helped pass Prop 12. Prop 12 will establish minimum space requirements for California calves used in the veal industry, mother pigs, and hens farmed for eggs. Not only will more space be provided for these animals, the measure will also ensure that food items sold in California are compliant with these modest standards. This measure also applies to liquid eggs, which make up one-third of all egg production.
Animal Equality was part of a coalition that helped pass Question 3 in Massachusetts. This initiative helped prevent cruelty by eliminating extreme methods of farmed animal confinement on facilities that raise animals for food. The measure passed with more than 78% of the vote.
Corporate outreach[edit]
Over 100 companies worldwide have committed to eliminating cages for hens from their supply chain thanks to Animal Equality's work.
Started in 2018, Animal Equality's U.S. corporate outreach department recorded its first two successes in May 2019, as its collaborative work leads to commitments from Denny's and Sun Basket to eliminate some of the worst abuses endured by chickens in the companies’ meat supply chains.
Investigations[edit]
After Animal Equality revealed horrific animal cruelty on El Escobar farm in Spain, four workers were found guilty and received the maximum sentence - one year in prison and three years of disqualification to work with animals for two of the four accused.
Shocking cruelty to cows and calves documented by Animal Equality investigators resulted in the conviction of a dairy farm worker on Harlingfarm in the UK in 2016.
Thanks to Animal Equality's 2018 investigation of Fir Tree Farm in Lincolnshire, UK, three of the pig farm's workers were convicted of multiple animal cruelty offenses and sentenced for their crimes.
An Animal Equality investigation revealed extreme abuse in a foie gras farm in Spain that was supplying Mugaritz, the then third best restaurant in the world. The chef at the restaurant, Andoni Luis Aduriz, was fully aware of the cruel force-feeding and slaughter methods used. The farm and restaurant were sanctioned following complaints from Animal Equality.
Following the investigation, supermarket chain COOP became the first in Italy to ban the sale of foie gras.
Animal Equality helped reduce the consumption of lamb meat in Italy by 40% in 2014, and a further 50% the following year through investigations into lamb farms.
India[edit]
Following the unfortunate accidents that killed many elephants and the absence of effective measures to prevent them, Animal Equality wrote to the environment and forests minister urging them to consider the installation of radar sensors on the train to detect the animals on the tracks.
In 2014, the Supreme Court of India passed a landmark judgement banning bullock cart races and all performances of bulls throughout the country including jallikattu (bull taming sport), bull fights, and other cruel sports thanks to the work of Animal Equality India, PETA India, and the Animal Welfare Board of India.
For multiple years, Animal Equality campaigned to end the cruel sacrifice at Gadhimai, one of Nepal's largest religious festivals, which takes place every five years. In 2014, Animal Equality's efforts led to a 70% reduction of animals killed, and in 2015 the Gadhimai Temple Trust announced an end to this deadly tradition. Unfortunately, in 2019 the killing continued and our team returned to Nepal to fight for the animals.
As a direct result of Animal Equality's extensive investigations inside foie gras farms, India became the first country in the world to implement a nationwide ban on the importation of foie gras.
In July 2017, the Law Commission of India issued a detailed report addressing the transportation and house-keeping of hens used for eggs and chickens used for meat. The report introduced a list of recommendations proposed by Animal Equality to improve the welfare of hens and chickens raised for food in the country.
Litigation[edit]
In the U.S., Animal Equality helped defeat the King Amendment, which threatened to prohibit states from passing new animal protection laws and would have negated existing state laws protecting animals.
Animal Equality, joined by a trio of public interest groups, challenges Arkansas’ Ag-Gag law in an effort to remove the veil of secrecy over the state's factory farms.
Animal Equality co-represents nonprofit consumer groups in a lawsuit filed against Tyson alleging deceptive marketing practices.
In collaboration with other animal protection organizations, Animal Equality filed an amicus brief in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in support of the Animal Legal Defense Fund's false-advertising lawsuit against Hormel Foods, which alleges the company is misleading consumers through deceptive marketing.
Activities[edit]
Undercover investigations[edit]
Animal Equality is the most prolific organization in the world doing undercover investigations. Since its launch in 2006, Animal Equality has visited over 700 animal facilities and released over 100 undercover investigations around the world. Animal Equality has carried out undercover investigations in Mexico, Brazil, Italy, Spain, France, UK, India, Vietnam, the U.S., China and Poland.
Animal Equality carried out the first farmed animal investigations in the history of Mexico, filming inside egg farms in October 2016. In 2018, Animal Equality released the first investigation inside the chicken meat industry in Mexico.
In 2017, Animal Equality also conducted the first-ever investigation inside Brazil's egg industry and India's egg farms revealing disturbing animal abuse within the countries’ factory farms.
Animal Equality's first U.S. investigation was released in July 2019, showing cruelty to calves at a Nebraskan dairy farm supplies Bel Brands, producer of Babybel.
In 2008, Animal Equality completed its first undercover investigation inside Spanish slaughterhouses. This represented the first farmed animal investigation in the history of Spain and was covered in numerous media outlets in the country. In 2010, Animal Equality released footage collected in over 100 Spanish pig farms and presented a documentary in English and Spanish showing the pig farming process in its entirety. This documentary has reached hundreds of thousands of people.
In 2012, Animal Equality presented its first investigation in the United Kingdom. It was featured in the lead page of The Sunday Times and resulted in two farm workers being sentenced for cruelty to pigs.
The same year, Animal Equality conducted one of the first investigations into the killing of tuna in Carloforte, Italy. The footage of this investigation has been used worldwide, for example in the award-winning documentary Cowspiracy.
In Germany, Animal Equality's investigation into Schwaben Park in 2013 shed light on the inhumane treatment of chimpanzees. Adult chimpanzees were confined in small cages showing signs of emotional distress and baby chimpanzees were taken from their mothers at only one day old to be trained to perform for visitors.
Corporate outreach[edit]
Animal Equality's corporate outreach department convinced some of the most powerful businesses worldwide to implement meaningful animal protection policies that significantly reduce the suffering of animals. Companies have the power to end some of the cruelest standard practices on factory farms and in slaughterhouses by requesting producers and suppliers to introduce animal welfare standards demanded by the consumers. In 2019 alone, our corporate outreach work affected over 20 million animals.
Legal advocacy[edit]
Animal Equality's legal team collaborates with Senators, MPs, and other officials to submit proposals for new legislation, based on recommendations by leading animal welfare experts. Each animal welfare law has the power to affect millions of farmed animals through institutional change. In 2019, the Animal Equality team, in collaboration with other animal protection organizations, successfully campaigned for Prop 12 in California, as well as the historic legislation that declared animal cruelty a felony in the Mexican state of Jalisco directly affecting 211 million animals.
Education[edit]
Through education, Animal Equality works to reduce animal suffering and to change peoples’ perceptions of the world's most exploited farmed animals. Animal Equality's Education Department is best known for its 360 VR experience, iAnimal, which transports viewers into slaughterhouses to view the horrors farmed animals endure every day.
Innovation[edit]
Animal Equality has pioneered the use of virtual reality in Animal Rights.The "iAnimal" films employ cutting-edge virtual reality technology to give viewers an immersive look at the life cycle of factory farmed animals from birth to death. Animal Equality's virtual reality project has been featured in media outlets around the world, including The New York Times.
Three iAnimal films have been released:
- The dairy industry in 360 degrees, narrated by actress Evanna Lynch, reveals the lives of calves and cows on dairy farms.
- 22 Days was presented by artist Kat Von D and shows the lives of chickens in the meat industry.
- Through the Eyes of a Pig features musician Tony Kanal recounting the life of a factory-farmed pig from birth to death.
iAnimal has been released in eight countries and translated into 16 languages. In 2016, Through the Eyes of a Pig won the 'Best 360° film' by German Web Video Awards.
During the big forest fires in the summer of 2019, Animal Equality used drones to reveal the impact of animal agriculture on the Amazon rainforest. Drones also captured the extent of the world's largest ritual killing, the Gadhimai Festival, in December 2019.
Recognition[edit]
- Animal Equality is a Platinum Level participant on GuideStar and has received the Seal of Transparency.
- In 2019, Animal Equality was top-rated by Great Nonprofits.
- Animal Charity Evaluators awarded Animal Equality with the title of Top Charity in 2018, 2017, 2016.
References[edit]
External links[edit]
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