To ensure that arrow continues to go up, we are hyper-focused on corporate accountability—on ensuring that the hundreds of companies that need to be held accountable to their commitments to eliminating intensive confinement over the next three years, actually remove cages once and for all. We are already seeing some major corporations, like Kroger and Walmart, trying to push their respective commitment deadlines to 2030 or 2035, which could mean millions of hens will continue to suffer for several more years. We cannot let that happen.
Additionally, we must continue to secure new corporate cage-free policies to build momentum. We will focus on the largest global companies, both because of the impact on the number of lives changed, and because of their influence on smaller companies in their respective sectors. With our eyes on changing the greatest regional population of caged hens, we will strengthen our work with our local Asian partner organizations in the Open Wing Alliance to gain as many commitments from Asia-based companies as possible following our groundbreaking win with Toridoll this year.
Build an unstoppable global movement for farm animals
When a trillion dollar global industry controls the fate of billions of sentient individuals, animals need every voice, signature, and advocate we can get. That’s why in 2023, we will continue to focus on building a powerful global movement that fights for the better treatment of animals in every single country and region where they suffer. Because animals raised for food don’t care what country they live in, we must do everything we can to stop factory farming everywhere.
We will continue to invest in strategically expanding our evermore powerful Open Wing Alliance (OWA)—which has grown to a coalition of 95 partner organizations in 67 countries—to build strategic alliances with organizations in critical regions. Asia accounts for 71% of all global egg production, so next year, we will focus especially on organizing and supporting partner organizations in Asia to improve the lives of billions of hens. The OWA will support local groups with training, grants, and collaboration to develop momentum that they can then leverage towards winning regional and country-specific corporate cage-free commitments.
Farmed animals are also tragically underrepresented in US public policy conversations. We are trying to change that. Our newly launched Animal Policy Alliance (APA) will organize, unite, and empower local and state-level animal advocacy groups with policy agendas that include animals raised for food. These groups harness and channel the grassroots power of a significant base of animal welfare advocates in the US that they then use to create relationships with legislators at the city, state, and federal level, and advocate for policies that benefit animals.
Advocate for pigs and fishes who suffer in our food system
Every year, trillions of animals are subjected to horrifying cruelty for corporate profit around the world. The vast majority of those animals live underwater. This year we hired our first Aquaculture Animal Welfare Specialist to conduct research that will scope and assess the biggest opportunities to improve aquatic animal welfare, and empower our Campaigns and Corporate Relations teams to take our learnings from improving the lives of the most neglected land animals raised for food, and apply them to improving the lives of the most neglected animals raised for food, period.
Recent successes with major food service providers also gave us a window into the opportunity to make important progress for pigs—intelligent, social, and caring animals whose fate is controlled by the intensely cruel and barbaric pork industry. After initiating negotiations with Sodexo and Compass Group to improve their welfare commitments to chickens raised for meat, we were able to convince them to also improve their timeline to move away from gestation crates—a metal cage that is so tight, mother pigs can’t turn around and often crush their piglets. We will continue to apply this strategy to future campaigns to eliminate all forms of intensive confinement and free every animal raised for food from cages.
Thank you for continuing to fight for animals
The vast majority of Americans support better treatment of animals raised for food. Yet food production giants continue to get away with the widespread abuse of billions of animals on factory farms. Instead of using their money to make the changes necessary to comply with consumer preferences and important laws like Proposition 12, they are fighting to keep business as usual. It is clear that we, as an animal protection movement, are up against a massive industry that is entrenched in their ways and willing to throw significantly more resources than we have at maintaining the status quo. Alongside you, we are fighting to change that.
With the threat to legal protections for animals looming large on the horizon, and with it, the fate of millions of farmed animals, 2023 will be a pivotal year for our work. Our corporate campaigns are evermore important, especially when we can’t rely on laws to protect animals.
To continue fueling the life-changing global progress made by The Humane League, The Humane League Japan, The Humane League UK, and The Humane League México, we will need to raise at least $10 million to fund our 2023 budget.
With your partnership, we can disrupt factory farming and transform our broken food system. Step by step. Day by day. Until every animal is free from abuse. Thank you!
Kalista Barter
