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Helping Animals and Shifting Cultures in 2024

by | Dec 19, 2024

Film: Molly Condit, Great Bear Media, 2024
Narration: Jo-Anne McArthur

Like you, we envision a world where animals live free from human harm. 

In 2024, you helped us advocate for animals through photojournalism. We went to where animals are hidden and need help. We documented abuses and exposed industries that go unquestioned and unchecked. We made invisible animals visible. It’s our job to capture stories that empower people and organizations to educate, campaign, change laws, and create the cultural shifts that lead to the compassionate world we all seek.

Watch our Year-in-Review video for a look at the animals we met and the stories we uncovered in 2024.

Thank you to the We Animals community for your ongoing support. We can’t do this work without you.

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Our 2024 Highlights

  • Introducing the We Animals Brand Evolution

You may have noticed that we look a bit different these days! In September, we launched the We Animals brand evolution, aligning our messaging, values, and visual identity with our mission to advocate for animals through photojournalism.

  • Growing the We Animals Stock Site

We celebrated a milestone this summer, reaching 100,000 visual downloads since our new-and-improved stock platform launched in May 2021. As the saying goes, a photo speaks a thousand words. Through these six figures, we hope that the visuals our users disseminate speak millions of words for animals who need us to be their voice.

In addition to this significant milestone, we introduced a subscription plan to the We Animals stock site for users looking for additional perks and support with accessing our 30,000+ visuals.

Check out these great stock stats from 2024:

Number of visuals in our stock collection

Number of visuals downloaded in 2024

Number of users who downloaded content in 2024

Number of registered organizations

Number of countries our visuals cover

Number of countries where our users are located

  • Global Assignments & Collaborations

This year, We Animals conducted 22 local and international assignments, ranging from independent storytelling to partnership assignments with NGOs seeking impactful visuals for their campaigns. Each of these projects takes an epic amount of planning and effort!

We partnered with organizations like Compassion in World Farming USA, HSI Canada, Viva!, Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary, and World Animal Protection to document a diversity of animal issues, such as industrial animal farming in Brazil, “cowtainers” in the USA, live horse exports in Canada, New York State Fair’s birthing centre, and lobster catching and transport in the UK. We’ll share more about these partnerships in 2025.

Independent assignments also kept our photographers busy, covering stories such as plastic pollution, horse meat production, grasshopper catching, UAnimals’ rescue efforts in war zones, Arizona’s vegan food scene, and more.

We joined the END.IT campaign coalition, a global movement to end factory farming initiated by Compassion in World Farming. We also collaborated with Expertise for Animals on #ExpertEye, an Instagram series revealing what veterinarians see when they look at our photographs of farmed animals.

Rescuer Avery Laing carries a young laying hen out of a barn at an organic and cage-free egg-laying farm that is closing its operations. The bird is one of 435 hens rescued over a three-week period that involves numerous individuals and sanctuaries to save as many birds as possible from further exploitation or slaughter. Oregon, USA, 2024. Diana Hulet / We Animals

A line of calves and yearlings spend their winters, typically November to April or May, inside a barn and chained by their necks at this dairy farm. Vermont, USA, 2022.

Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals

A newborn kitten rests in hands of UAnimals evacuation team member Vlad. The kitten was accidentally discovered inside a box in a barn, where his mother had given birth apparently only hours before. Both the kitten and his mother were evacuated. Ukraine, 2024. Anzhelika Kozachenko / UAnimals / We Animals

A blind and anxious horse, tied with tight ropes through his mouth and around his head, is led into a slaughterhouse at a horse farm. Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2024.

Muhammad Fajri / We Animals

Rescuer Avery Laing carries a young laying hen out of a barn at an organic and cage-free egg-laying farm that is closing its operations. The bird is one of 435 hens rescued over a three-week period that involves numerous individuals and sanctuaries to save as many birds as possible from further exploitation or slaughter. Oregon, USA, 2024. Diana Hulet / We Animals

A newly built industrial pig farm. Taiwan, 2019.

Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals

A newborn kitten rests in hands of UAnimals evacuation team member Vlad. The kitten was accidentally discovered inside a box in a barn, where his mother had given birth apparently only hours before. Both the kitten and his mother were evacuated. Ukraine, 2024. Anzhelika Kozachenko / UAnimals / We Animals

A white laying hen stands on the bare wire floor of a battery cage at an egg production facility. Central Anatolia Region, Turkiye, 2023.

Havva Zorlu / We Animals

  • Engaging Media & NGOs in Animal Stories

Our photographs and videos appeared in over 350 media publications this year, including The Dodo, The Guardian, and a 15-country study by Harvard Law School and New York University.

We published an additional 15 independent editorials showcasing our global assignments and animal stories, such as avian flu in the era of big-ag, the hens who got a second chance, and open rescue and sanctuary in Poland.

Organizations and outlets benefited from our diversity of visual content, including timely work from Türkiye’s dog culls by Tunahan Turhan, Canada’s Bulls, Broncs & Barrels Rodeo by Jordan Rivers, and Rebecca Cappelli’s documentation of RSPCA assured egg farms in the UK.

Did you know We Animals can source impactful visuals for your stories and be available to comment on various animal welfare and industries? Learn more.

Rescuer Avery Laing carries a young laying hen out of a barn at an organic and cage-free egg-laying farm that is closing its operations. The bird is one of 435 hens rescued over a three-week period that involves numerous individuals and sanctuaries to save as many birds as possible from further exploitation or slaughter. Oregon, USA, 2024. Diana Hulet / We Animals
Rescuer Avery Laing carries a young laying hen out of a barn at an organic and cage-free egg-laying farm that is closing its operations. The bird is one of 435 hens rescued over a three-week period that involves numerous individuals and sanctuaries to save as many birds as possible from further exploitation or slaughter. Oregon, USA, 2024. Diana Hulet / We Animals
A newborn kitten rests in hands of UAnimals evacuation team member Vlad. The kitten was accidentally discovered inside a box in a barn, where his mother had given birth apparently only hours before. Both the kitten and his mother were evacuated. Ukraine, 2024. Anzhelika Kozachenko / UAnimals / We Animals
A newborn kitten rests in hands of UAnimals evacuation team member Vlad. The kitten was accidentally discovered inside a box in a barn, where his mother had given birth apparently only hours before. Both the kitten and his mother were evacuated. Ukraine, 2024. Anzhelika Kozachenko / UAnimals / We Animals
Rescuer Avery Laing carries a young laying hen out of a barn at an organic and cage-free egg-laying farm that is closing its operations. The bird is one of 435 hens rescued over a three-week period that involves numerous individuals and sanctuaries to save as many birds as possible from further exploitation or slaughter. Oregon, USA, 2024. Diana Hulet / We Animals
A newborn kitten rests in hands of UAnimals evacuation team member Vlad. The kitten was accidentally discovered inside a box in a barn, where his mother had given birth apparently only hours before. Both the kitten and his mother were evacuated. Ukraine, 2024. Anzhelika Kozachenko / UAnimals / We Animals
Rescuer Avery Laing carries a young laying hen out of a barn at an organic and cage-free egg-laying farm that is closing its operations. The bird is one of 435 hens rescued over a three-week period that involves numerous individuals and sanctuaries to save as many birds as possible from further exploitation or slaughter. Oregon, USA, 2024. Diana Hulet / We Animals
A newborn kitten rests in hands of UAnimals evacuation team member Vlad. The kitten was accidentally discovered inside a box in a barn, where his mother had given birth apparently only hours before. Both the kitten and his mother were evacuated. Ukraine, 2024. Anzhelika Kozachenko / UAnimals / We Animals
  • International Exhibits of Animal Photojournalism

Our book, HIDDEN: Animals in the Anthropocene, continues to gain global recognition for its stark depiction of animal lives. In 2024, its photography was featured in European and US exhibits, inspiring viewers far beyond the animal advocacy space.

  • Announcing our 2024 Animal Photojournalism Fellows

In May and June, we announced two Animal Photojournalism Fellowships awarded to Bogna Wiltowska and Ira Moon.

Bogna documented farmed animals in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, a region experiencing gradual industrialization of animal agriculture that remains under-researched from an animal advocacy standpoint.

Ira’s Fellowship aims to explore the intersection between human workers and farmed animals, highlighting the story of the liberatory struggle shared by human and nonhuman labourers in animal agriculture.

We’ll be sharing Bogna and Ira’s Fellowship projects in early 2025.

In 2024, we also published the final work of our 2023 Fellows, Havva Zorlu and Selene Magnolia Gatti. We’re so pleased with their outcomes!

  • Animal Photojournalism Capacity-building in Asia

We announced our collaboration with FIAPO in November to support India’s animal advocacy movement. This project was launched with a webinar on using photography to create powerful narratives for animal advocacy. We will be sharing more about our plans for this powerful capacity-building partnership in early 2025.

  • Introducing our Stories of Compassion & Change

Building on our Unbound Project, which celebrated over 150 women across eras and continents at the forefront of animal advocacy, We Animals continues to highlight stories of compassion and change more broadly. We are excited to expand upon this aspect of our storytelling to inspire compassion and fuel change in society.

Follow our most recent story from this series on Instagram.

We’re delighted to share these highlights from this year and ready for all that’s to come in 2025!

Did you know? Our stock platform offers 30,000+ photos and video clips of animal issues around the globe. Non-commercial (free) and commercial licensing available.

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