ANNUAL 2023 IMPACT REPORT
Together, we helped over 34 million animals in 2023. Explore our impact report to discover how you are changing the world for them.
Dear friend,
THANK YOU! Your commitment has fueled a year of unprecedented achievements for farmed animals.
Through donations, demonstrations, petitions, and online actions, you’ve been the driving force propelling our investigations, plant‑based initiatives, legislative victories, and corporate engagements, impacting over 34 million animals throughout 2023.
Your resilience in confronting an industry that exploits animals knows no bounds. As we enter 2024, let’s continue our collective mission to reshape the world for farmed animals. They need us; I am sure you will be there for them.
Sharon Núñez
President, Animal Equality
Animal Equality: Over 17 Years of Changing the World for Animals
In 2006, Animal Equality was founded in Spain by Sharon Núñez, Jose Valle, and Javier Moreno with one mission: to protect animals.
Starting in 2016, Animal Equality has dedicated its resources exclusively to farmed animals who are raised and killed for human consumption. Farmed animals suffer and die in the greatest numbers and are generally not protected by laws and policies.
Animal Equality is one of the world’s most effective advocacy organisations for farmed animals today.
With you by our side, we work tirelessly in eight countries – the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, and India – to achieve our shared vision of a world where all animals are respected and protected.
Thanks to your support, we release footage gathered through undercover investigations to expose what animals endure inside factory farms and slaughterhouses. We also make tangible progress for those trapped in the system by criminalising abuse, promoting new laws, working with companies to update their animal protection policies, and inspiring people to reduce or eliminate their consumption of animal products.
None of this would be possible without you.
Let’s celebrate your achievements for animals!
HIGHLIGHTS
34+ MILLION
ANIMALS IMPACTED
7
INVESTIGATIONS PRESENTED
6.5+ MILLION
VIEWS OF OUR VIDEOS
131,000+
VOLUNTEERS AROUND THE WORLD
795,000+
PEOPLE SIGNED OUR CAMPAIGNS
YOU SHOWED THE TRUTH BEHIND FACTORY FARMING
These investigations are at the heart of Animal Equality’s mission. By showing the realities involved in factory farming, we can change minds, policies and laws. By watching, signing, and sharing our investigations, you helped more than 1.2 million animals in 2023!
UK fish slaughter boats
dying in Scotland?
India’s egg industry
YOU PROMOTED DELICIOUS, PLANT‑BASED EATING
Animal Equality’s investigations uncover the ‘why’ behind helping animals, while Love Veg – our unique, flagship plant‑based program – offers the crucial ‘how’. We integrate plant‑based messaging into all of our communications and enthusiastically guide our supporters to the Love Veg website. Your support spreads this message, helping animals with every meal!
HIGHLIGHTS
1.4+ MILLION
VISITS TO THE LOVE VEG WEBSITE
550,000+
LOVE VEG RECIPE BOOK DOWNLOADS
750,000+
ESTIMATED VIEWS OF LOVE VEG IN THE MEDIA
378,000+
LOVE VEG SUBSCRIBERS
You’ve empowered people all around the world to reduce or eliminate their consumption of meat, fish, milk, and egg products. By sharing new Love Veg recipe books – including ‘Replace Eggs and Save Hens’ in Mexico, ‘My First Vegan Recipes’ in Brazil, ‘Veganising Traditions’ in Spain, ‘Recipes for Your Plant‑Based Journey’ in the UK and in the U.S., and ‘Recipes for a Vegan Easter’ in Italy – you raised awareness for farmed animals through plant‑based foods.
Influencers in India even joined us, inviting viewers to participate in our Love Veg 21-Day Plant-Powered Challenge.
Your support also enabled us to conduct eight workshops on plant‑based nutrition at universities in Mexico, all while introducing iAnimal at prominent events and festivals in Italy, Germany, the U.S., Spain, and Mexico. Through this immersive virtual reality experience individuals were confronted with the truth of factory farming. Some even declared, “I’m vegan now!”
YOU IMPROVED THE LIFE OF COUNTLESS CHICKENS
2023
ITALY
In 2022, Italy passed a groundbreaking bill prohibiting the killing of male chicks in the egg industry. In 2023, the government published a decree to implement this ban, promoting egg-sexing technology and enforcing a complete halt to maceration-based killing (where chicks are brutally ground up while they are still alive). This move aims to spare 34 to 36 million chickens annually, and it’s all thanks to you and over 110,000 supporters who joined the campaign against this cruel practice.
europe
At the same time, an Animal Equality complaint prompted the European Commission to evaluate whether the breeding of ‘fast-growing’ chickens – where chickens are bred to grow far too big, far too quickly – violates European law. Your advocacy urged the European Parliament to confront this issue for the first time! We’re committed to halting this harmful practice that hinders chickens’ movement, blood flow, and breathing through unnatural and rapid growth.
SPAIN
You also played a crucial role in the Open Wing Alliance campaign targeting LIDL supermarkets to join the European Chicken Commitment, a pledge that companies make to end the use of faster-growing chicken breeds, amongst other commitments. While the campaign is still underway, your actions have reverberated throughout the industry. Between protests and a multitude of messages sent to companies, you have significantly supported our outreach, resulting in convincing La Sirena and DIA Supermercados in Spain to adopt the European Chicken Commitment. These victories are monumental, potentially changing the lives of 16 million chickens annually!
MILLIONS OF HENS CAN SPREAD THEIR WINGS BECAUSE OF YOU
Alongside fellow members of the Open Wing Alliance (OWA), you sent numerous emails and social media messages to Viking Cruises and Jollibee, the fastest-growing restaurant chain in Asia. This led to their commitment to cease using eggs from caged hens. Harnessing the impact of your actions, we engaged in negotiations with supermarkets like Supernosso in Brazil, and HiperDino in Spain, as well as renowned hotels such as Westin and Four Seasons in India, Atlantica in Brazil, and several other companies worldwide. The outcome? A total of 16 new companies pledged to ban the use of cages in their egg supply chain. While cage-free is never cruelty-free, through these commitments you will spare over 7 million hens annually from a life behind bars!
YOU TOOK ACTION FOR PIGS
Your support was pivotal in urging Denny’s to honour its commitment to eliminating gestation crates. These cruel cages confine mother pigs who are unable to turn around or properly nurse their babies. We presented our important message, supported by 53,000 signatories, to Denny’s leadership at its headquarters, whilst running mobile billboards and a display in Times Square to raise public awareness of this crucial issue.
Simultaneously, in Germany, fellow Animal Protectors rallied at the Brandenburg Gate. They urged Aldi supermarkets to cease the use of cages for mother pigs and hens in their U.S. supply chain, aligning with their practices in Germany.
While the campaigns against Denny’s and Aldi are progressing, your advocacy has been instrumental in influencing Sprouts Farmer’s Market, Jack in the Box, Conagra, and other companies to commit to eliminating gestation crates from their supply chains. While our ultimate goal will always be to get pigs out of farms entirely, thanks to your voice, over 25,000 mother pigs will be spared from confinement in cages barely larger than their bodies!
YOU ADVOCATED TO END CRUEL FORCE‑FEEDING FOR GEESE AND DUCKS
You played a crucial role in our global fight against the force‑feeding of ducks and geese for foie gras. We are progressing toward foie gras sales bans in Portland, Oregon; Vancouver, Washington State; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Rhode Island.
Your impact was also felt in Germany, where we gathered 58,000 signatures urging the government to end forced fattening in the European foie gras industry.
Dedicated volunteers and activists also gathered in London too, to speak out against this horrific cruelty. Armed with placards and video screens, passionate advocates revealed the brutality involved in foie gras production to the public. Inside Parliament, our efforts sparked a debate on foie gras sales and imports. Members of Parliament echoed the public sentiment, advocating for the ban. High-profile figures like Miriam Margolyes, Diane Morgan, Dame Twiggy Lawson, Alesha Dixon, and Dr Amir Khan endorsed an open letter to the UK’s Prime Minister supporting the import ban and your contribution made this campaign so impactful that it earned front-page coverage in The Times, revealing that nearly nine out of ten Brits are in favour of a ban!
YOU FOUGHT TO END FACTORY FARMING
Putting the law on the side of animals
2023
UNITED STATES
Despite industry opposition, the Supreme Court upheld California’s historic Proposition 12, legislation that would eliminate some of the worst abuses of farmed animals in the state. In a victory that followed 13 years of relentless advocacy by Animal Equality and supporters like you, New Jersey passed a landmark law ending the extreme confinement of pregnant pigs and veal calves. You’ve also helped us to fight against the EATS Act, which could undermine vital animal protection laws like Prop 12.
MEXICO
Your advocacy reached beyond borders, influencing legislation in Mexico too. Here, we introduced animal protection bills in six new states. We also presented a groundbreaking bill to include animals in the Constitution and enact the first Animal Welfare Law in Mexico, and worked to advance the Sustainable Food Law, which encourages the adoption of plant‑based foods.
BRAZIL
Your global impact extended to Brazil, where we worked to stop the dangerous Self-Control Law, and backed our recently-introduced bill to ban cages for all farmed animals in the country by 2030.
EUROPE
Abroad, we advocated for robust legislation that would align with the European Commission’s commitment to end cages for animals.
EUROPE
Collaborating with fellow European animal welfare groups, and always in the spirit of union within the movement, we presented over 309,000 signatures through the #EUforAnimals campaign. Urging for the appointment of an EU Commissioner for Animal Welfare, we called for animals to be prioritised in European policy‑making.
Holding animal abusers accountable
In the U.S., we are pursuing legal action against several entities involved in farmed animal abuse, including Plainville Farms and Wilson Farm Meats. These private criminal complaints serve a dual purpose: bringing animal abuse to justice and raising public awareness about cruelty to farmed animals.
Bringing animals’ voices to the streets
We also led Animal Rights Day protests across Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Brazil, showcasing posters of animals and tools used by the animal agriculture industry to mutilate and abuse farmed animals. Together, we told the media, the industry, and the general public that Animal Equality will not stop until every animal is respected and protected!
YOU GAVE COWS A VOICE
Responding to Central Lechera Asturiana’s ‘I drink milk’ campaign, Animal Equality released a video revealing how standard dairy practices impact cows and calves in Spain. This video invited supporters like you to join the plant‑based movement. We launched a parallel campaign, urging the government to halt subsidies to the Spanish dairy sector and support plant‑based options instead.
In the U.S., we teamed up with committed activist and actress Richa Moorjani to reveal an investigation into India’s dairy industry, promoting impactful, plant‑based choices.
YOU SPOKE UP FOR FISH
Thanks to your support, Animal Equality released investigative footage on BBC Countryfile, watched by millions of people across the UK. We exposed the soaring numbers of salmon dying on Scottish farms, where one in four fish perishes before reaching the slaughterhouse. Your backing enabled us to launch a petition urging consumers to boycott salmon products and the government to halt the industry’s expansion. In addition, we’re actively fighting against the proposed establishment of the UK’s first onshore RAS fish farm.
FUELING MEDIA ATTENTION FOR ANIMALS
Seeing your work reflected by far-reaching media is a testimony to the power of investigations and campaigns for animals.
1,500+
MEDIA MENTIONS
22.8+ MLLION
ESTIMATED MEDIA VIEWS
MEDIA COVERAGE
The following news organisations have featured Animal Equality’s work:
YOU CAN HELP ANIMALS
We need your support more than ever to continue fighting against the powerful animal agriculture industry and change the world for farmed animals.
Please join us in making 2024 another historic year for them!