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These photographs are part of a large and growing body of work created by We Animals, which is a non-profit organisation that advocates for all animals through photojournalism. These stories capture our fraught relationships with animals, and slowly create ethical and cultural shifts in society that empower human capacity for compassion and change. 

The animals we interact with each day are often hidden from view and the public conscience. Long gone are the days when the animals around us were either wild or pets. In the Anthropocene, which is the proposed name for the current geologic epoch, animals are a business, and we raise them by the billions each year. They are the animals we eat, wear, use for research, entertainment, and work, as well as in traditions and sacrifice. The animals we pull from the sea are uncountable, so we measure their numbers not by the individual, but by the ton.  

There is a new genre of photography, simply called animal photojournalism. It documents not just wildlife and pets, but all animals. This photo essay offers examples of animal photojournalism (APJ) from photographers in different regions of the world. Wherever we are, there are subjugated animals in captivity and in industrial farming systems whose lives need to be seen and considered. These stories don’t exist in a bubble, but overlap with the escalating problems of pollution, climate change, and human health and rights.  

The photographs in Hidden Animals in the Anthropocene are both a testament and a memorial to animal lives. Most importantly, they ask us to de-centre ourselves and see with empathy. 

Featured image above: The interior of the transport truck is reflected in this cow’s eye. Canada, 2018. Photo: Louise Jorgensen / HIDDEN / We Animals

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Men restrain two birds inside a ring at the beginning of a cock-fight. The tradition of cock fighting stretches back thousands of years, but the end result of a gruesome death for one of the birds has never changed. East Timor, 2017. Photo: Aaron Gekoski / HIDDEN / We Animals
Unable to stand or walk, a chicken with legs that can no longer support them sits on their stomach inside a broiler chicken farm in Italy. This is a common issue for young broiler chickens, making it impossible for them to reach water. Italy, 2021. Photo: Stefano Belacchi / Animal Welfare Observatory / We Animals

One of Europe’s biggest chicken farms is raising chickens in appalling conditions in Italy. That is the finding of a Spanish NGO Animal Welfare Observatory who investigated this farm in 2021. This farm’s chickens, like those in other big broiler farms, are raised in huge sheds illuminated with continuous artificial light up to 24 hours a day. These chickens are constantly fed to increase their body weight until they reach market weight, usually in about six weeks. Following this period, they are put in cages, loaded onto trucks, and driven to the slaughterhouse.

This farm is part of a much larger farming industry located in Italy’s northern and north-eastern regions where most of the country’s chickens are slaughtered. The annual number of poultry slaughtered is second only to the number of pigs killed per year, with one company alone slaughtering over 350 million birds annually. Italy’s poultry industry is mostly vertically integrated: the same companies own the entire supply chain, from breeder flocks, hatcheries and grow-out flocks to feed production, slaughter and processing.

Hundreds of family- or corporate-owned farms, slaughterhouses, and feed producers are located within a 50-kilometre range. The biggest farm reportedly has five floors with about 20,000 chickens on each floor. On these farms, chicks are usually killed after just 40 days. Many may die from disease or thirst. Their fast growth rate often causes leg problems with birds unable to support their own weight. Chicks lying on the ground in agony, unable to reach water dispenser systems is also a common sight.
Seventy-two rescued laying hens deemed “spent” by an egg farm, their laying days over, sit in the back of a rescuer’s vehicle. Moments before these hens were to be gassed at the farm in a modified dumpster, the rescuers inquired if they could save any of the hens. After being told by farm workers they could “take as many as you like,” the rescuers filled two cars with hens, saving 140 individuals and safely transporting them to sanctuaries. South Australia, Australia, 2018. Photo: Lissy Jayne / Bear Witness Australia / We Animals

Hens are moved to egg farms from the hatchery at about four months of age, where they face various levels of confinement, depending on the housing system used at the farm. Battery farms confine three to seven hens per wire-floored cage, offering roughly an A4-sized (21 x 29 centimetres) space for each individual. “Cage-free” and “free-range” systems, while different from battery cages, still densely confine hens within industrial sheds. Despite outdoor access requirements for “free-range” labelling in Australia, as of 2024, stocking densities of up to 10,000 hens per hectare are permitted.

With little environmental enrichment on many egg farms, boredom and aggression between hens is expected. To mitigate injury, chicks are typically debeaked at the hatchery by having the tip of the beak seared off with a hot blade, often to the extent of compromising their ability to feed or preen themselves.

Modern layer hens are bred for unnaturally high egg production, leading to calcium depletion and increased susceptibility to bone fractures. Many hens also suffer from egg binding, where eggs become stuck in their cloaca due to the strain on their reproductive system. At 12 to 18 months old, farms typically deem them “spent,” and send them to slaughter to become low-grade meat.
A rabbit hangs from the grip of a worker at an intensive farm that raises rabbits for meat, supplying them to street and wet markets, and private customers. This rabbit has been chosen for slaughter. Undisclosed location, Hanoi, Red River Delta, Vietnam, 2024. Photo: Human Cruelties / We Animals

This intensive rabbit and cat farm on the outskirts of Hanoi, Vietnam supplies animals for meat to local markets, street vendors, and private customers, and is reportedly one of the largest rabbit farms in the region.

Inside, the facility appeared to operate in a state of neglect, with rabbits and cats housed in rows of overcrowded and dirty industrial-style barren metal cages within a dark, poorly ventilated building. Many rabbits made eye contact through wire cage openings as they clawed and pressed against the confines of their enclosures. The restrictive cages prevent natural movement and behaviours, with multiple animals caged in each small compartment. Numerous rusted and damaged cages had broken metal components, posing injury risks to the animals inside.

Despite the high temperatures, many animals lacked access to drinking water and a high number of dead animals lay scattered throughout the premises, with deceased individuals left in cages alongside living animals. Many surviving rabbits and cats exhibited health issues including severe eye infections, respiratory problems evidenced by nasal discharge, and neurological symptoms. The cats, kept in similar tiny and filthy cages, appeared to suffer from the same conditions of disease, malnutrition, and stress, with many exhibiting fear when approached.

Conditions were unsanitary, with waste accumulation beneath cages and strong ammonia odours permeating the building and no visible waste management. Medical supplies including antibiotics and hormones were evident and indicative of routine drug administration, raising questions about food safety and drug residues in the meat produced. Despite these conditions, the farm continues to supply local markets and private customers without any apparent oversight.
A cow brought from Europe and destined for a Turkish dairy farm looks out with a lowered head from within a transport trailer. Cattle transported on these days-long journeys struggle to survive inside these narrow trailers. Kapikule, Edirne, Edirne Province, Marmara Region, Turkiye, 2023. Photo: Havva Zorlu / We Animals

Thirteen trucks arriving through the nearby Bulgarian border at Kapikule wait at a rest stop in September 2023, carrying farmed animals from Romania, Germany and Denmark, over 2,500 kilometres away. Some of the trucks contain cows destined for Turkish dairy farms. The animals jostle for space in the narrow trucks with excrement-covered floors and endure hunger, thirst and high temperatures, among other difficult conditions on their days-long journey. As a result, the animals can be exposed to transmissible diseases and are particularly vulnerable to illness, stress and injuries.

Every year, thousands of farmed animals withstand multi-day journeys to Turkiye as part of the European Union-Turkiye live animal trade. In Turkiye’s northwest Marmara region, Edirne is a hub for foreign animals brought into the country. According to the EU Transport Regulation 1/2005, animals in transport must be rested and fed at rest stops, but unloading them from the trucks is not required. The regulation also prohibits animal transport when temperatures exceed 30°C, yet transport of animals has been observed when temperatures were 35°C or more.
Gene Baur and Opie at Farm Sanctuary. Gene rescued Opie from a pile of dead animals when he was a calf. Farm Sanctuary, Watkins Glen, New York, USA, 2007. Photo: Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals

Farm Sanctuary was co-founded by Gene Baur and Lorri Houston in 1986 when they rescued Hilda, their first sheep. It was the first sanctuary of its kind, focusing wholly on rescuing and advocating for animals farmed for food.

As of 2021, Farm Sanctuary’s website states that its mission is “[To] pursue bold solutions to end animal agriculture and foster just and compassionate vegan living.” Today, they have sanctuaries in New York and California, and at any given time, they are caring for almost 1,000 animals.

The sanctuaries attract thousands of visitors, interns, and volunteers each year. The New York shelter boasts 275 acres of rolling pastures, forests, an education centre, and accommodation for guests, and the Southern California shelter has 26 acres. Educational events about animals are held at each sanctuary throughout the year.
Ducks are grasped by their necks by a worker and taken from the holding pens to the kill floor of a small slaughterhouse in Indonesia. Close-up view. Indonesia, 2021. Photo: Haig / Act for Farmed Animals / We Animals

Having the appearance of a small “backyard” style slaughterhouse, this facility in Indonesia slaughters up to 200 ducks per day, as well as chickens and goats. Animals slaughtered here come primarily from local farms, and the meat from the ducks is used to supply restaurants and traditional markets on Java Island. Occasionally, clients visit during the day to purchase a few kilograms of duck meat. According to the slaughterhouse owner, there are approximately 20 other slaughterhouses of varying sizes in the area.

The ducks are slaughtered by hand, in full view of each other, in seemingly unhygienic conditions. Individuals who appear to have health issues are also slaughtered. Each bird’s throat is cut with a knife, and they are then put into a bucket to bleed out and die. Each duck finishes the bleeding out process directly on the ground and is subsequently put into a pot of boiling water to facilitate feather removal, which is done by a defeathering machine. Workers manually complete the final defeathering, disembowelment, and dismemberment process.

The feathers from multitudes of slaughtered ducks can be seen strewn upon the road in front of the slaughterhouse.
Tourists watch an Asian elephant forced to swim underwater for performances. Khao Kiew Zoo, Thailand, 2019. Photo: Adam Oswell / HIDDEN / We Animals
Unlucky number 7. An immobilised pig awaits the administration of an infusion in a jugular catheter. Spain, 2019. Photo: Carlota Saorsa / HIDDEN / We Animals
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. Photo: Paul Hilton / Earth Tree Images / HIDDEN / We Animals
Dead ponyfish mixed with plastic waste lie inside a trash-filled fishing net. The accumulated plastic waste polluting the area is reported to negatively impact marine life, the environment, and coastal residents’ health. Sukaraja Beach, Bandar Lampung, Lampung, Indonesia, 2024. Photo: Resha Juhari / We Animals

Trillions of minute plastic particles, called microplastics, pollute the world’s oceans and largely originate from the continuous flow of plastic waste from land to sea. A 2015 Jambeck Research report reveals that in 2010, Indonesia contributed approximately 1.3 million metric tons of plastic waste to the ocean annually, ranking second globally after China. This waste accounted for nearly half of Indonesia’s 3.22 million metric tons of mismanaged plastic in 2010 and is predicted to double by 2025. According to a 2016 United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity report, three-quarters of all marine debris is plastic that fragments into microplastics and can take centuries to decompose. Bacteria, plankton, and larger animals consume the particles which persist up through the food web, ultimately accumulating in the bodies of fish and other species. A 2023 Ocean Conservancy Report states more than 1,300 marine species are affected, including birds and whales. Sardines (Sardina pilchardus), commonly caught by Indonesian fishermen in Sukaraja, are among the unseen victims of this contamination.

The local coastal community relies on Sukaraja’s waters for their livelihoods. Despite the plastic waste and other trash littering the area, fishermen continue their work in the face of dwindling fish populations and tolerate fishing amid the trash, working without taking days off. One local fisherman reports catching only five kilograms of fish or less on some days, earning only CAD$0.87 to CAD$1.75 (IDR 10,000 to IDR 20,000) in a day. Unaware of microplastics and their harmful effects on fish and humans, he is more focused on the declining catch and the uncertainty surrounding the future of local fishing. He believes the trash does not originate from his neighbourhood and a 2021 report found that about 3.5 percent of waste from the nearby city of Bandar Lampung ends up in the sea, with fishermen often catching more trash than fish.
A milk dispenser truck drives between some of the thousands of calf hutches in a massive dairy farm’s yard. Turkey Creek Dairy, Pearce, Arizona, USA, 2023. Photo: Ram Daya / We Animals

Although mostly desert, the state of Arizona in the USA has a long history of agriculture, including alfalfa grown for the domestic and international dairy markets. The state’s lack of water regulations have attracted farmers and agricultural corporations from Minnesota to as far away as the Middle East. Corporate farms use land and groundwater to raise cattle and grow alfalfa and forage to feed cattle, sometimes exporting it to feed Middle Eastern dairy cattle. As of 2023, an estimated 960,000 cattle, including calves, are used for beef and dairy in the state. Residents complain that these “mega-dairies” are drying up wells and aquifers and causing water scarcity in a state that is already experiencing a groundwater crisis. We Animals photojournalist Ram Daya visited several Arizona industrial farms in the late summer of 2023 to document the scale of the state’s expanding animal agriculture industry.

Turkey Creek Dairy, owned by Riverview, LLP is one of the state’s most extensive dairy operations, with cattle yards able to accommodate 9,000 dairy cows and 120,000 heifers and 17,000 white plastic hutches for calves.

Riverview began as a Midwestern family farm, eventually expanding into an investor-funded corporation operating in five states. Since its 2014 arrival in Arizona, the company has bought nearly 51,000 acres in the Willcox and Douglas basins, according to Cochise County land records. The company’s water use has come under scrutiny for reputedly accelerated the aquifer’s depletion. They have drilled more than 80 wells in Arizona’s Willcox Basin aquifer and more in the Douglas Basin to the south, several more than 300 metres (1,000 feet) deep, deeper than any other well in the region. Residents claim it is the cause of their wells running dry, and digging deeper wells is beyond their financial means. According to the Arizona Department of Water Resources, Arizona’s farmed animal operations use 100 percent groundwater.
Frightened sheep stare out and vocalize from a holding pen outside a slaughterhouse. Though they do not know what awaits them, the animals faces exhibit anxiety as they stand tightly packed in a place unfamiliar to them. Undisclosed, Prigorodnoye, Chuy Region, Kyrgyzstan, 2024. Photo: Bogna Wiltowska / We Animals

Prigorodnoye, a village near Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan’s capital, is characterized by industrial zones and warehouses, including numerous slaughterhouses that process horses, cattle, sheep, and yaks for meat.

Slaughterhouses vary from small, basic facilities to larger operations, but all kill animals without prior stunning, in accordance with halal slaughter guidelines of Islam, the country’s dominant religion. Regardless of species, the animals remain fully conscious from the moment their throats are cut until their death.

At this slaughterhouse, sheep await slaughter in an outdoor enclosure before being taken inside individually or in pairs, with one often witnessing the death of the other. Workers handle the animals roughly, sometimes dragging them by the leg. Inside, each sheep is immobilized on their back with bound legs in a metal butchering cradle, where a worker cuts their throat with a knife. Without stunning, the animals struggle after being cut, attempting to kick in a futile attempt to escape. Reports estimate sheep may remain conscious for up to 20 seconds after their throats are cut, experiencing pain and significant distress. After death, their heads are severed, with post-death muscle reflexes continuing as their bodies bleed out. Though executed with methodical efficiency, the entire slaughter process can take several minutes, with the animals appearing to suffer an agonizing death.

Workers carry out the slaughter process with apparent indifference. Between kills, they step outside the building for breaks, smoking cigarettes and laughing while sheep await impending slaughter in crowded pens just meters away.
To produce the luxury food item foie gras, ducks and geese are force-fed to fatten their livers up to 10 times their natural size. Spain, 2011. Photo: Luis Tato / Animal Equality / We Animals
Ron, a chimpanzee rescued from invasive research, in his nest of blankets at Save the Chimps sanctuary. Save the Chimps, Fort Pierce, Florida, USA, 2011. Photo: Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals

Save The Chimps is a 150-acre chimpanzee sanctuary in Florida, USA, established in 1997 after the U.S. Air Force announced they would no longer conduct research using chimpanzees. Based on the treatment of the animals and the conditions the animals had endured, Save The Chimps was born after successfully gaining legal custody from the Air Force of the 21 chimpanzees the Air Force held. As of 2008, the sanctuary has rescued and provided a permanent home for over 330 individuals, including 266 chimpanzees rescued from the bankrupted biomedical research lab, the Coulston Foundation.

At Save The Chimps, the animals can freely roam and make their own choices. The animals live amongst the sanctuary’s open spaces, which contain hills, shelters, and climbing structures specifically designed for the chimpanzees. Save the Chimps’ mission is to provide refuge and superior care to chimpanzees in need. According to the organization, as of 2008, it became the world’s largest privately funded chimpanzee sanctuary.
Rescued piglet Patsy reaches up to eat some fresh green leaves from a woodland plant in dappled summer sunshine at Pigs In The Wood sanctuary. Pigs In The Wood, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, UK, 2021. Photo: Tom Woollard / We Animals

Pigs In The Wood is a non-profit sanctuary for pigs who have been rescued from various situations. The sanctuary is based in the village of Scissett, Huddersfield on 10 acres of woodland where the pigs roam free and live naturally. Their aim is to provide a home for pigs who have been abused and mistreated. When they are unable to take pigs into the sanctuary, the team uses their rehoming service to build contacts and develop more prospects to find safe and loving places for the pigs to live. Some of the work they do to promote the sanctuary includes school visits, where they talk about the pigs in their natural environment. They also encourage colleges and individual groups to visit for educational purposes. Annual events at the sanctuary include Easter, Halloween, and Christmas, as well as running stalls at festivals and fairs where possible. Learn more at Pigs In The Wood.
Sylwia Prokopiak (left) and investigator and animal advocate Bogna Wiltowska (right) interact with Buba, a female white raccoon dog rescued from a fur farm the previous night. Now awake after sleeping in a temporary cage following her rescue, Buba is curious when people come in to see her. She sniffs at people and accepts treats. Poland, 2024. Photo: Jo-Anne McArthur / Anima International / We Animals

According to a fur industry website, Europe produces over 50 percent of the world’s fur. Polish fur farms are reported among the leading producers and breeders of animals used for this purpose. In late 2024, a small investigative team and We Animals photojournalist Jo-Anne McArthur visited a fur farm in southwestern Poland at night to document the conditions in which foxes and raccoon dogs are confined.

On the farm, investigators found hundreds of animals housed in various sizes of bare cages, some beneath open-sided buildings. The smaller cages had only enough space for the animals to take a few steps or turn around and the larger cages allowed for a few paces more. During the visit, investigators documented lethargic, pacing, and fearful animals with some cages containing dead and decomposing foxes. The animals had no enrichment, only a spout for drinking water and they were exposed to the elements year-round.

The investigation concluded with the rescue of a female white raccoon dog. Investigators brought her to a sanctuary where she received veterinary care and she now lives in a safe, caring environment with other animals.

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