LOOK AND LISTEN: The screams and scratches of pigs struggling to escape slaughterhouse gas chambers
VIVA: Of the 10.7 million pigs killed in the UK each year, almost 90 per cent are stunned via gassing before being slaughtered. Pigs are lowered…
‘But Can They Suffer?’: The malevolence of meat
MATTHEW ADELSTEIN: With the upcoming farm bill that could determine the fate of lots of animals, it’s time to question our consumption of meat. The…
The Culture of Domestication: Why do we have ‘pets’?
RAMI GABRIEL: There are 900 million dogs and 700 million cats (both owned and feral) worldwide. According to a 2018 study, half of U.S. households…
‘All That Breathes’: A meditative documentary film about an Indian bird sanctuary that is full of soul-transforming magic
ELLEN E. JONES: The opening shot of All That Breathes (Sky Documentaries) comes into focus – a ground-level pan across an abandoned wasteland – and…
SPECIESIST WITHIN: Evidence that people choose to be skeptical about animal sentience
STEFAN LEACH, ET AL: Our relationships with other animals are governed by how we view their capacity for sentience and suffering. However, there is…
THE RIGHT TO BE ‘EO’: How does the Oscar-nominated film about a mute donkey end?
ANDREW McGOWAN: With a plot centered around a meandering mute donkey, the Oscar-nominated Polish film EO has more than a few ambiguous moments, and…
LIGHT THE WAY: Rescuing farm animals from cruelty should be legal
FARHAD MANJOO: For about six weeks in the summer of 2021, an activist working with the animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere, or DxE, gained…
ST. FRANCIS HE IS NOT: Animal rights group blasts Pope Francis for circus outing with animal performances
CRUX: As the saying goes, “no good deed goes unpunished.” It’s a sentiment with which Pope Francis and his top official for charitable activity,…
THE PIG FACTORY: China’s plan to increase ‘pork’ production by building high-rise factory farms
DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI: The first sows arrived in late September at the hulking, 26-story high-rise towering above a rural village in central China.…
GOING SOLO: The mystery of why female chimps leave their groups
SARAH DUNPHY-LELII: When animals live together in bonded communities, there needs to be some mechanism to maintain healthy genetic diversity—incest…