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Wildlife Trade
Wildlife. Not Entertainers
Wildlife. Not Pets
Wildlife. Not Medicine
Farmed Animals
Sea Change
Animals in disasters
Animals in communities

Wildlife Trade

Crocodile in restrictive enclosure, Northern Territory, Australia.

Every day, thousands of wild animals are poached, farmed or sold into the global multi-billion-dollar wildlife trade – for food, pets, traditional medicine, entertainment and fashion products.

Image credit: Dean Sewell

Cargo of cruelty: How Ethiopian Airlines is fuelling global wildlife trade
Fashion victims: The trade in Australian saltwater crocodile skins
Protecting our world from future pandemics: Why the G20 must end the global wildlife trade

Wildlife. Not Entertainers

From wild animal selfies to swimming with dolphins and elephant riding to petting lion cubs and taking tiger selfies, cruelty to animals in the entertainment industry is rampant.

Views that abuse: The rise of fake “animal rescue” videos on YouTube
Elephants. Not commodities: The welfare conditions for captive elephants in the tourism industry
Behind the smile: The multi-billion dollar dolphin entertainment industry
The Show Can't Go On: The suffering of captive wild animals at zoos and aquariums linked to WAZA
The Case Against Marine Mammals in Captivity: The lives of captive marine mammals are impoverished
Associated With Cruelty: How travel trade associations are ignoring wild animal abuse
Wildlife Abusement Parks: Wildlife entertainment tourism in Bali, Lombok and Gili Trawangan
A Close Up On Cruelty: The harmful impact of wildlife selfies in the Amazon
Taken For a Ride: The conditions for elephants used in tourism in Asia
Tiger Selfies Exposed: A portrait of Thailand’s tiger entertainment industry
Checking Out of Cruelty: How to end wildlife tourism’s holiday horrors
The Cayman Turtle Farm: A continued case for change

Wildlife. Not Pets

Each year, millions of wild animals are captured from their natural habitats or born into captivity, just to become pets. Our houses are not suitable homes for a wild animal.

Suffering in Silence: Uncovering the cruelty of the global trade in Ball pythons
The 'Big 5' and 'Little 5' Report: Exploiting Africa's wildlife
Otters as Pets in Southeast Asia: A social media craze is fueling otters' demise
Wild at Heart: The hidden cruelty behind the exotic pet trade of African grey parrots

Wildlife. Not Medicine

The demand for traditional Asian medicine is threatening wildlife populations around the world. From big cat farms to pangolin poaching, iconic animals are being pushed to the bring of extinction to fuel a scientifically unproven practice.

Cruel Cures: The industry behind bear bile production and how to end it
Trading Cruelty: How big cat farming fuels the traditional Asian medicine industry
Suffering at Scale: Investigating pangolin poaching in Hassam, India
Uncovering a Secret Slaughter: Suriname's jaguar trade exposed
Unbearable: A deeper look at the international bear bile trade

Farmed Animals

The vast majority of farm animals live in factory farms that cause suffering and stress. It’s time to rethink farming.

The Pecking Order 2021: Assessing how global fast-food brands are responding to the chicken crisis
The Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare Report 2020: (BBFAW) A leading global measure of farm animal welfare
Big meat. Big bucks. Bigger harm.: Animal welfare and European financial links with deforestation in the Amazon and Cerrado
Fuelling the pandemic crisis: Factory farming and the rise of superbugs
Valuing higher welfare chicken: Making the financial case for more humane chicken production
The Pecking Order 2018: How leading global fast-food companies are failing the chickens their businesses depend on
The Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare Report 2018: (BBFAW) A leading global measure of farm animal welfare
Pork and the Superbug Crisis: How higher welfare farming is better for pigs and people
A Pig's Tale: Exposing the facts of factory farming
Exposing the secret suffering of chickens farmed for meat: Demand for chicken meat continues to rise, worsening their suffering

Sea Change

A staggering 640,000 tons of abandoned fishing gear (ghost gear) is left in our oceans each year. This gear traps, mutilates, and kills hundreds of thousands of animals annually.

Ghosts Beneath the Waves (2nd Edition): Ghost gear’s catastrophic impact on our oceans, and the urgent action needed from industry
Ghosts Beneath the Waves (1st Edition): Ghost gear’s catastrophic impact on our oceans, and the urgent action needed from industry
Fishing's Phantom Menace: How ghost fishing gear is endangering our sea life

Animals in disasters

Kangaroo in burned bush after Australian bushfires

Disasters injure and kill millions of animals each year. When disasters hit, animals experience the same terrible effects as people: injury, starvation, thirst, displacement, illness and stress.

Image credit: Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media

Animals in disasters: an updated assessment of Australia's animal related planning for, and response to, disasters

Animals in communities

A community dog seeks shade under a car in Sierra Leone, where World Animal Protection's partner group Sierra Leone Animal Welfare Society (SLAWS) began a campaign of rabies vaccinations in Freetown.. Credit Line: World Animal Protection / Michael Duff

Millions of dogs are culled each year – in fruitless efforts to stop rabies spreading. Culling dogs is not the solution to rabies. The only way to eliminate the virus is through vaccination.

Image credit: Michael Duff

All eyes on dogs: How dogs hold the solution to ending human rabies by 2030

Our investigations team has written a plethora of research reports that expose and inform about complex animal protection issues around the globe.

Browse our research reports

Our reports are organised by campaign and listed in order from newest to oldest.

Wildlife Trade

Every day, thousands of wild animals are poached, farmed or sold into the global multi-billion-dollar wildlife trade – for food, pets, traditional medicine, entertainment and fashion products.

Wildlife. Not Entertainers

From wild animal selfies to swimming with dolphins and elephant riding to petting lion cubs and taking tiger selfies, cruelty to animals in the entertainment industry is rampant.

Wildlife. Not Pets

Each year, millions of wild animals are captured from their natural habitats or born into captivity, just to become pets. Our houses are not suitable homes for a wild animal.

Wildlife. Not Medicine

The demand for traditional Asian medicine is threatening wildlife populations around the world. From big cat farms to pangolin poaching, iconic animals are being pushed to the bring of extinction to fuel a scientifically unproven practice.

Farmed Animals

The vast majority of farm animals live in factory farms that cause suffering and stress. It’s time to rethink farming.

Sea Change

A staggering 640,000 tons of abandoned fishing gear (ghost gear) is left in our oceans each year. This gear traps, mutilates, and kills hundreds of thousands of animals annually.

Animals in disasters

Disasters injure and kill millions of animals each year. When disasters hit, animals experience the same terrible effects as people: injury, starvation, thirst, displacement, illness and stress.

Animals in communities

Millions of dogs are culled each year – in fruitless efforts to stop rabies spreading. Culling dogs is not the solution to rabies. The only way to eliminate the virus is through vaccination.

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Our investigations team has written a plethora of research reports that expose and inform about complex animal protection issues around the globe.

Browse our research reports

Our reports are organised by campaign and listed in order from newest to oldest.

Wildlife Trade

Every day, thousands of wild animals are poached, farmed or sold into the global multi-billion-dollar wildlife trade – for food, pets, traditional medicine, entertainment and fashion products.

Wildlife. Not Entertainers

From wild animal selfies to swimming with dolphins and elephant riding to petting lion cubs and taking tiger selfies, cruelty to animals in the entertainment industry is rampant.

Wildlife. Not Pets

Each year, millions of wild animals are captured from their natural habitats or born into captivity, just to become pets. Our houses are not suitable homes for a wild animal.

Wildlife. Not Medicine

The demand for traditional Asian medicine is threatening wildlife populations around the world. From big cat farms to pangolin poaching, iconic animals are being pushed to the bring of extinction to fuel a scientifically unproven practice.

Farmed Animals

The vast majority of farm animals live in factory farms that cause suffering and stress. It’s time to rethink farming.

Sea Change

A staggering 640,000 tons of abandoned fishing gear (ghost gear) is left in our oceans each year. This gear traps, mutilates, and kills hundreds of thousands of animals annually.

Animals in disasters

Disasters injure and kill millions of animals each year. When disasters hit, animals experience the same terrible effects as people: injury, starvation, thirst, displacement, illness and stress.

Animals in communities

Millions of dogs are culled each year – in fruitless efforts to stop rabies spreading. Culling dogs is not the solution to rabies. The only way to eliminate the virus is through vaccination.

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