Meta (Facebook) is the world’s largest illegal wildlife marketplace
A landmark investigative report released today by a coalition of international conservation organizations provides damning evidence that Meta—the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger—hosts the largest known illegal wildlife marketplace in the world.
‘Should we leave them to die?’ The battle over how to save orangutans from the curse of palm oil
Podcast: As new settlers clear their forest habitat, the apes are coming into conflict with humans. But simply moving them to another part of the forest may not be the answer.
The long and winding road to safe highways: Inside the global movement to reconnect habitat
One of the busiest highways in the western U.S. is I-25, a concrete artery that runs north to south across the state of Colorado, funneling roughly 100,000 cars per day through the fast-growing exurbs south of the capital, Denver. While I-25 facilitates human journeys, it disastrously truncates the movements of another set of commuters. For […]
Fish Die Quietly: Scenes from fish-harvesting in India
On assignment with the non-profit Samayu, We Animals photojournalist Shatabdi Chakrabarti recently documented fish harvests and markets across Andhra Pradesh, India. The harvest begins with workers standing waist-deep in aquaculture ponds at sunrise and pulling nets toward shore. The nets tighten, full of bodies. Rohu and catla leap desperately from the surface, slamming into one […]
Lease sale seeks to transform Arctic National Wildlife Refuge into a fossil fuel industrial zone
All major oil companies refused to bid; one small oil company and a state of Alaska-sponsored corporation snapped up five leases in a rush to exploit the Refuge’s Coastal Plain. Even though the interest in today’s sale was tepid, the new leasing still poses significant threats to habitat, iconic wildlife, and Indigenous ways of life […]
In a warming Arctic, gray whales struggle to find nourishment
Some marine scientists first thought the gray whale population was undergoing a cyclical population downturn after a big expansion that had strained their food resources. But the whales have not bounced back, and these researchers now assign an important role in the whales’ decline to 21st century shifts in temperatures, currents and winter ice cover […]
Happy the elephant dies aged 55 after being euthanized at New York zoo
The Asian elephant, was euthanized after zoo staff determined that “progressive, age-related health conditions” required the decision, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society, which runs four zoos and an aquarium in New York.
Lomisoba: The sacred festival in Georgia where hundreds of animals are killed each year
Each year in the mountains of Georgia, thousands of pilgrims climb toward a small hilltop church, walking and carrying sheep, lambs, calves, cattle and roosters. Many are praying for health, protection or prosperity. By the end of the day, hundreds of animals will be dead. In 2025, We Animals photojournalist Andrew Skowron documented Lomisoba. These […]
Over 700 whales, dolphins massacred in barbaric Viking-era grind on Faroe Islands
The locals used hooks and knives to herd and beach the Atlantic white-sided dolphins and long-finned pilot whales into shallow bays. Spectators, including children, watched from the shoreline as the animals were horrifically slaughtered and their bodies slashed open. Afterwards, the carcasses were piled together, hauled off, and carved up for distribution.
San Francisco turns to AI to save whales from ship strikes as deaths soar
Ferries, cargo ships and tankers cut through choppy waters in the San Francisco Bay on Tuesday as a whale surfaced nearby, its spout barely visible against the white caps. Until now, whales could easily go unnoticed by mariners, but an AI-powered detection network launched this week is designed to track them day and night.
Salmon farm faces new cruelty claims as Trump seeks to supersize fish farming
The Trump administration is keen to do to fish what has been done to chickens—mass-produce them on an industrial scale to accelerate the U.S.’s output of seafood. But this “chickenification” of fish may come at a hefty cost to the environment and to the fish themselves.
Trump administration relaxing hunting restrictions in U.S. parks and refuges
Trump’s administration is quietly pushing national park, refuge, and wilderness area managers to dramatically scale back hunting restrictions, raising questions about visitor safety and the impact on wildlife.
