Reports

Our reports are free to view, download and distribute. The reports are categorised by two areas of work: animals in farming and animals in the wild.

Chickens in  a cage

Climate change and cruelty - revealing the true impact of factory farming

Our report shows what we choose to eat impacts our planet, how factory farming is pushing our climate to breaking point and how changing our diets could help to safeguard our future.

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August 2022
Jaguar skin hanging at the Belén market.

Risky business - How Peru’s wildlife markets are putting animals and people at risk

Belén market, located in Iquitos the capital city of Peru's Loreto Region, is considered the largest and most important open market selling wildlife in the Peruvian Amazon. The commercial trade in wild animals at urban markets, such as Belén, is illegal in Peru (Law No 29763). However, wildlife trade is poorly monitored and practiced openly.

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Cargo of Cruelty

Cargo of Cruelty - West Africa Report

Our Cargo of Cruelty report reveals Ethiopian Airlines is shipping live wild animals from West Africa around the world for use as exotic pets.

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August 2021
7 day old broiler (meat) chickens in a commercial indoor system

The Pecking Order 2021

We've just launched our third global assessment and the 2021 results are shocking. Although there have been some improvements many brands show no ambition to improve standards, subjecting chickens to unnecessary suffering and cruelty. 

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July 2021
Man holding snake while gibbon cowers away

Views that abuse: The rise of fake “animal rescue” videos on YouTube

This investigation reveals a disturbing new type of animal abuse on social media platforms: fake "animal rescues". These cruel videos depict animals including cats and dogs placed in staged situations “in the wild”, such as near “predators” including snakes and crocodiles, only to be "rescued" just in time by a human passing by. In total, we found 181 different fake animal rescue videos published on YouTube between October 2018 and May 2021.

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June 2021
bear, bear bile,

Cruel Cures

About 24,000 bears are farmed legally and illegally for bile from their gall bladders in China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Lao PDR and South Korea. Their bile is used for traditional Chinese medicine to treat a host of illnesses and wellbeing issues. Either taken from the wild or bred in captivity, they are confined to small cages, deprived of their natural lives and behaviours, enduring poor health and diseases. This World Animal Protection report is an extensive review of the industry conducted from 2015-2018.

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March 2021
Varkens in krappe kooien

Silent superbug killers in a river near you

How factory farms contaminate public water courses on three continents.  Water downstream from factory farms harbours an invisible threat to people’s health which could eclipse the COVID-19 crisis. 

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March 2021
Runderen in Mato Grosso

Big meat. Big bucks. Bigger harm.

This report investigates the links of European financial institutions with the biggest drivers of deforestation in the Amazon and Cerrado regions, with a special focus on animal welfare.

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December 2020
Sows on low welfare farm with no enrichment and poor conditions

Quit Stalling

Are companies making good on promises to end sow confinement? This report aims to put the companies featured on notice and to encourage customers to hold them accountable for lapsed, forgotten, or upcoming commitments.

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October 2020
Elephant performing for tourists playing football - World Animal Protection

Tracking the travel industry

‘Tracking the travel industry’ is the first study of its kind to compare the animal welfare commitments of 14 of the world’s leading travel
companies. We commissioned the University of Surrey in the UK to independently analyse the public commitments travel companies have
made to improve the lives of wildlife in tourism activities. 

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September 2020
Piglet behind metal bars on a factory farm

Fuelling the pandemic crisis

Factory farming and the rise of superbugs. There is ample science showing how antibiotics overuse on factory farms leads to superbugs that spread to workers, the environment and into the food chain. The COVID-19 pandemic should be a worldwide wake-up call for factory farming and its regulators.

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September 2020
Elephant rides

Elephants. Not commodities. Taken for a ride 2

This report documents the plight of the 3,837 elephants used in tourism in Thailand, India, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Malaysia as of January 2020 and is part of our 10 years work in the region. It features elephant living conditions, training, breeding, the status of the industry, academic research – regarding welfare and conservation.

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August 2020
32 day old broiler (meat) chickens in a commercial indoor system

The Pecking Order 2020

How most global fast-food companies still ignore the suffering of chickens in their businesses.

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January 2020
Dolphin suffering in captivity

Behind the smile

This report outlines the massive scale and profitability of the multi-billion dollar dolphin entertainment industry. It highlights the industry’s links with the corporate investment industry and the suffering of more than 3,000 dolphins for the money that is made from their labour. 

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October 2019
Rhinos are killed for their horns

Exploiting Africa's wildlife - the 'Big 5' and 'Little 5'

Every day, hundreds of thousands of wild animals suffer cruelty at each stage of the trade chain. This report highlights some of the worst impacts of wildlife trade on the survival and wellbeing of wild animals in Africa. It also draws attention to Africa's top five most illegally trafficked wild animals.

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October 2019
Caged tiger at shut down Onesti Zoo in Romania

Trading cruelty

Thousands of big cats, mostly lions and tigers, are farmed - bred and killed - annually for their body parts to fuel the highly lucrative global market for traditional Asian medicine products. This report reveals an expanding industry with serious animal welfare concerns and highlights how the big cat farming facilities are driving the commodification of these wild animals, while failing to protect them from poaching.

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July 2019
43 day broiler chickens in a caged farming system - World Animal Protection - Change for chickens

The Pecking Order first edition

How leading global fast-food companies are failing the chickens their businesses depend on. This report, is the first ever assessment of global brands' commitment to the welfare of chickens farmed for meat.

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January 2019
A salt-water crocodile in the misnamed South Alligator River. Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory, Australia.

Fashion victims

Each year, thousands of saltwater crocodiles are farmed and killed in Australia for their skins. Fashion Victims details the disturbing plan to greatly expand the Northern Territory crocodile industry by French luxury goods company, Hermès.

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At this wildlife venue in Thailand tiger cubs are kept in small pens but brought out for selfie opportunities with tourists. Credit: World Animal Protection

Tiger selfies exposed

This report presents a portrait of Thailand´s tiger entertainment industry. It is the first comprehensive analysis of the tiger entertainment industry in Thailand and highlights the role of governments, the travel industry and tourists globally in protecting them.

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A child looks at a captive dolphin at aquatic theme park

The case against marine mammals in captivity

For the 5th edition of ‘The Case against Marine Mammals in Captivity’, World Animal Protection and the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) provide robust scientific evidence and ethical arguments to support the case that it is unacceptable to house marine mammals in captivity for the purpose of public display. 

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Slangen op een handelsbeurs

Trading animals and diseases: Canada's role in the global commercial wildlife trade

Canada plays a significant role in both the selling and buying of wild animals and their parts, sustaining the same global wildlife trade that puts human health, globally, at risk. The wildlife trade supplies live and dead animals and animal parts and derivatives within countries and across borders for a wide array of uses, and carries zoonotic disease risks. 

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