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Animal Welfare

Vox’s home for coverage of animal rights and welfare.

Americans are eating less meat. And more meat. How?Americans are eating less meat. And more meat. How?
Future Perfect

The growing chasm in American meat consumption, explained.

By Kenny Torrella
Most “humane” farms are lying to you — and the government isn’t stopping themMost “humane” farms are lying to you — and the government isn’t stopping them
Future Perfect

A new investigation finds false advertising continues to dupe consumers.

By Kenny Torrella
43 lab monkeys escaped in South Carolina. They have a legal claim to freedom.
Future Perfect

Who owns the escaped monkeys now? It’s more complicated than you might think.

By Angela Fernandez and Justin Marceau
One big, unexpected loser this electionOne big, unexpected loser this election
2024 Elections

How a second Trump term could take a wrecking ball to animal welfare.

By Kenny Torrella
Starbucks won’t charge extra for plant-based milk. Other companies should follow.Starbucks won’t charge extra for plant-based milk. Other companies should follow.
Future Perfect

It’s a big deal for the climate — and for the coffee industry at large.

By Marina Bolotnikova and Kenny Torrella
A special investigation reveals the places where farm animals endure “sadistic” abuseA special investigation reveals the places where farm animals endure “sadistic” abuse
Future Perfect

These marketplaces are the backbone of the meat industry, where cruelty to animals is the norm.

By Jessica Scott-Reid
Fish farming was supposed to be sustainable. But there’s a giant catch.Fish farming was supposed to be sustainable. But there’s a giant catch.
Future Perfect

A groundbreaking study suggests your farmed shrimp and salmon might have a much bigger environmental toll than previously thought.

By Kenny Torrella
These California and Colorado ballot measures are terrifying the meat industry
Future Perfect

In Sonoma County and Denver, activists are putting animal welfare on the ballot.

By Marina Bolotnikova
Helene just pummeled America’s chicken farming capitalHelene just pummeled America’s chicken farming capital
Future Perfect

Factory farming makes hurricanes more dangerous, disgusting, and expensive.

By Kenny Torrella
Do animals experience love like people do?
Audio
The HighlightMember Exclusive

Dr. Gregory Berns on his surprising research on the emotional lives of dogs and cows.

By Benji Jones
A thousand pigs just burned alive in a barn fireA thousand pigs just burned alive in a barn fire
Future Perfect

Cruelty is built into the pork industry — but it could at least try to prevent fires.

By Kenny Torrella
Animal testing, explained
Future Perfect

Is anything really “cruelty-free”?

By Celia Ford
Turkey’s plan to remove stray dogs is inhumane. There’s a better way.
The Highlight

We don’t need to pit dogs against humans.

By Sam Delgado
The animal rights movement was once locked in bitter debate. Now it’s getting things done.The animal rights movement was once locked in bitter debate. Now it’s getting things done.
Future Perfect

A short history of effective animal advocacy.

By Kelsey Piper
19th-century animal rights activists had a lot of moxie. Here’s how to get it back.
Future Perfect

The meat industry took away your food options and made activists the enemy. It doesn’t have to be that way.

By Crystal Heath
You’re wrong about PETA
Future Perfect

The nonprofit is a punchline. It’s also forced the world to face factory farming, animal cruelty, and our own hypocrisy.

By Jan Dutkiewicz
Vegans are radical. That’s why we need them.
Future Perfect

Vegans are the dissenters in society’s war on animals.

By Jishnu Guha-Majumdar
How Factory Farming Ends
Future Perfect

The fight against the meat industry has been rocky. Can it be won?

By Marina Bolotnikova
Humanity is failing one of its greatest moral tests
Future Perfect

The long, maddening, glorious, vital fight against factory farming.

By Marina Bolotnikova
If the left is serious about saving democracy, there’s one more cause to add to the list
Future Perfect

Animal rights must become a core issue for progressives.

By Astra Taylor and Sunaura Taylor
Ditching factory farming can help prevent another pandemic
Future Perfect

The neglected environmental and health benefits of fighting Big Meat — for humans.

By Jonathan Safran Foer and Aaron Gross
These reviled birds of prey literally save people’s livesThese reviled birds of prey literally save people’s lives
Future Perfect

When vultures died off in India, people died too.

By Dylan Scott
The bird flu doom loopThe bird flu doom loop
Future Perfect

Is bird flu here to stay?

By Kenny Torrella
How public universities hooked America on meat
Future Perfect

University scientists helped build factory farming. Now, some want to protect its “social license to operate.”

By Grace van Deelen
Elephants have names — and they use them with each otherElephants have names — and they use them with each other
Future Perfect

A new study reveals elephants are more like humans than we realized. What does that mean for the movement for their rights?

By Celia Ford
Republicans want to put pigs back in tiny cages. Again.Republicans want to put pigs back in tiny cages. Again.
Future Perfect

House Republicans are working to make America’s factory farms even crueler.

By Marina Bolotnikova
10 big things we think will happen in the next 10 years
Future Perfect

Obesity will go down, electric cars will go up, and a nuclear bomb might just fall.

By Bryan Walsh, Dylan Matthews and 4 more
Big Milk has taken over American schools
Future Perfect

How centuries of milk marketing warped the way we think about dairy and nutrition.

By Kenny Torrella
Why aren’t we vaccinating birds against bird flu?Why aren’t we vaccinating birds against bird flu?
Future Perfect

It’s not as complicated as it seems, but there’s one key hurdle.

By Jess Craig
John Fetterman has beef with no-kill meatJohn Fetterman has beef with no-kill meat
Future Perfect

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis banned cell-cultivated or “lab-grown” meat. Why did Democratic Sen. John Fetterman lend his support?

By Kenny Torrella
Bird flu in milk is alarming — but not for the reason you thinkBird flu in milk is alarming — but not for the reason you think
Future Perfect

The US Department of Agriculture’s failed response to bird flu in cows, explained.

By Kenny Torrella
The meat industry’s war on wildlifeThe meat industry’s war on wildlife
Future Perfect

Your taxes fund an obscure government program that kills millions of wild animals to benefit Big Ag.

By Kenny Torrella
I gave up meat and gained so much more
Home Planet

The delightful abundance of going vegan.

By Marina Bolotnikova and Christine Mi
The dairy industry really, really doesn’t want you to say “bird flu in cows”The dairy industry really, really doesn’t want you to say “bird flu in cows”
Future Perfect

How industrial meat and dairy trap us in an infectious disease cycle.

By Marina Bolotnikova
The next big climate deadline is for meat and dairyThe next big climate deadline is for meat and dairy
Future Perfect

It’s a lot sooner than you think.

By Kenny Torrella
Why New York is suing the world’s biggest meat company
Future Perfect

Meat giant JBS said it’ll reach net zero emissions by 2040. LOL.

By Jan Dutkiewicz
9 charts that show US factory farming is even bigger than you realize
Future Perfect

Factory farms are now so big that we need a new word for them.

By Marina Bolotnikova and Kenny Torrella
Can effective altruism stay effective?Can effective altruism stay effective?
Future Perfect

The flow of new money and interest into core EA fields like AI safety poses a challenge to a movement that was used to being small.

By Kelsey Piper
The US uses endangered monkeys to test drugs. This law could free them.
Future Perfect

Everything from Ozempic to Covid vaccines is tested on long-tailed macaques. Experts believe many are illegally trafficked from the wild.

By Dayton Martindale
When one twin goes vegan and the other doesn’tWhen one twin goes vegan and the other doesn’t
Future Perfect

What a plant-based diet can and cannot do for you, explained by Netflix’s You Are What You Eat.

By Kenny Torrella