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Animal Welfare

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

9 actually good things that happened in 20249 actually good things that happened in 2024
Future Perfect

It wasn’t the easiest year, but 2024 was not without its bright spots.

By Bryan Walsh
The 10(ish) most read Future Perfect stories of 2024The 10(ish) most read Future Perfect stories of 2024
Future Perfect

Why young people are getting cancer, problems with OpenAI, and the little intelligence agency that could.

By Bryan Walsh
The adorable reason why all of Amy Sedaris’s stuff has holes in it
Down to Earth

She’s an expert in funny, but her relationship with rabbits is very serious.

By Benji Jones
You’re being lied to about “ultra-processed” foods
Future Perfect

Coverage of the latest nutrition buzzword is overly broad, arbitrary, and wildly misleading. The problem goes deeper.

By Marina Bolotnikova
Mexico just put animal welfare into its national constitutionMexico just put animal welfare into its national constitution
Future Perfect

These reforms are a big win for advocates, but what happens next will be crucial for animals rights.

By Sam Delgado
Why 597 million chickens go missing from America’s food supply each yearWhy 597 million chickens go missing from America’s food supply each year
Future Perfect

Chicken giants are pushing birds to their biological limits. A staggering number die but never make it to consumers’ plates.

By Kenny Torrella
How did Elphaba become wicked? There’s a hidden message people keep missing.How did Elphaba become wicked? There’s a hidden message people keep missing.
Future Perfect

The treatment of animals in the real world is far stranger — and crueler — than in Wicked.

By Sam Delgado
Should we put pig organs in humans? We asked an ethicist.
Audio
Future Perfect

Xenotransplantation raises major moral questions — and not just about the pigs.

By Mandy Nguyen
8 million turkeys will be thrown in the trash this Thanksgiving
Future Perfect

We don’t have to accept all that death and waste for a dry, flavorless bird no one likes.

By Marina Bolotnikova
How America broke the turkeyHow America broke the turkey
Future Perfect

An investigation reveals how the company behind the White House turkey pardon — and the rest of the industry — really treats its birds.

By Kenny Torrella
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