Justice For Animals: Animal Justice Project in Full Effect

Hello! Animal Justice Project have some incredible plans for 2022, building on our existing campaigns as well as launching some new ones too.

Our EXPIRED and The Foul Truth campaigns will be prominent focuses for us, building on the work we have carried out in recent years including pressure campaigns and undercover investigations. This is going to be a great year for Animal Justice Project!

Covid-19 meant that we could not get out onto the streets as often as we would have hoped for during 2020, but as soon as restrictions dropped, we were able to safely carry out visually stunning protests outside of farms and on the high street including our flagship demonstration outside of Berryfields Farm in Northamptonshire, following the launch of our EXPIRED campaign, that attracted over 70 activists from around the country.

Bath Cheeses

In November 2021, we launched our seven-month undercover investigation at Bath Soft Cheese, an award-winning, ‘high welfare’, organic dairy farm. Known for their high-end cheeses, we wanted to show the callous reality for cows on organic dairies. Our footage reached millions via national press and two of the farm’s major stockists, Abel & Cole and Planet Organic, both cut ties with the farm. We revealed the heartache and distress that cows and calves face as they are separated from each other so people can drink the mother’s milk. Shocking findings included verbal and physical abuse of animals by staff, calves dragged by their necks and individually housed and calves being sent to be killed by a prolific calf dealer.

Our core focus is always the animals. It is great to see more plant-based options available, making vegan food accessible to more people, but Animal Justice Project’s mission is a society free from animal exploitation (not just ‘food’ animals) and we aim to do this by working in five key areas: Undercover investigations, pressure campaigning, education, organising and public engagement.

Vivisection

Animal Justice Project was founded in 2014 focusing solely on vivisection. Whilst we do still provide resources to local grassroots animal rights groups covering the heartbreaking and vile vivisection industry, our current work centers around animal agriculture. We wholeheartedly still want to see a complete end to unnecessary and outdated animal experiments.

Whilst our investigations highlight the suffering that ducks face in these poor conditions, our messaging will always focus around asking people to stop supporting all animal exploitation and choosing veganism.

Our campaigns use undercover investigations to bring to light hidden parts of industries to show to consumers. For example, under our Dairy Still Kills campaign, we filmed inside G & G B Hewitt slaughterhouse in Cheshire, capturing footage of male dairy calves - waste products of the dairy industry - being killed inside an abattoir for the first time in the UK. Investigations enable us to focus on ‘high welfare’ farms and industries to show that not only the intensively-reared animals suffer, but all animals do, including RSPCA Assured, Red Tractor farms and organic.

We must work strategically, taking a multipronged approach to reach producers (farmers), consumers, stockists and the industry as a whole. We must work with the media, demonstrate outside of farms and reach members of the public on high streets up and down the UK if we want to be as effective as can be for the animals.

The Gressingham Ducks campaign

As with all of our previous investigations, we work with authorities to try and get some form of justice for the animals but unfortunately, we have found time and time again that very little action really happens from our government. We have seen farms being dropped by welfare labels to then be picked back up again once the bad press has ended. This is the same with Gressingham Foods with both of our investigations, one covering their farming standards and the other inside their abattoir. Despite clear law breaking in their slaughterhouse where live birds were left shackled upside down for as long as 14 minutes (seven times to legal time permitted), the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has stated that is it “not in the public interest” to carry forward legal action. Our Scammed! campaign perfectly highlights many issues surrounding the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in particular.

Whilst our investigations highlight the suffering that ducks face in these poor conditions, our messaging will always focus around asking people to stop supporting all animal exploitation and choosing veganism. Working with authorities, supermarkets or welfare labels, their focus remains on welfare, so we must exploit that to impact the farm and/ or business as much as possible. Our ‘asks’ will always include that these companies move to plant-based production.

Petitions

Petitions help us get attention for key areas of campaigns that need it, allow activists to carry out quick and simple actions, plus lets us target the authorities or businesses. Our petitions usually centre around emails being sent off to companies with every signature, urging that they take the appropriate immediate action.

Members

Animal Justice Project has membership packages whereby supporters sign up to donate a specific amount each month and receiving a membership pack in return. Memberships and regular donations allow us to plan ahead and be more effective in our pressure campaigning. It gives us stability to be as strong and effective as possible for the animals.

The best way to help Animal Justice Project currently is to carry out our online actions, share our content via social media, sign up to our mailing list plus of course, donating to fund our investigations and street actions. We are still very much a small group but in the future as we expand, we hope to have a more in-depth volunteer programme.

We can certainly win, but we have a lot of work to do! We must work strategically, both within our own organisation and by working with other groups. A rise in plant-based food is fantastic, but globally, we are producing more animal products than we ever have done.

Not only must we promote veganism and plant-based diets, but we must keep our messaging clear against all animal exploitative industries. We must push for a decline (and ultimately, an end) to animal agriculture through undercover investigations, national media, public demonstrations, artistic stunts, pressuring companies and supermarkets and pushing for legislative change. We have a long way to go but this is the time where we must ramp up our efforts and work together collectively for animal liberation.

For more information, visit Animal Justice Project online:

www.animaljusticeproject.com