We Animals Media: Telling Animal Stories

Photographing animals is nothing new. Wildlife and conservation photography have rich histories telling the stories of wild animals often in jeopardy. These genres have brought to light the lives and trials of large cats, elephants and rhinos; of birds, lizards and snakes; of fish, sharks and dolphins. Animals that many of us would normally never be able to see can be seen in a photograph or video, and while we appreciate their beauty we can also appreciate their peril as they are killed and traded and as their habitats are destroyed.

An eastern grey kangaroo and her joey who survived the 2020 forest fires in Mallacoota, Australia. 2020 Nature Photographer Of The Year (Man & Nature category). Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media

But there are other animals we do not see who also live in peril. Not in peril of threatened status or even extinction — their peril is that we want too many of them. They are the animals we use or kill for food, fashion, work, entertainment, religious practice and research, and they number in the hundreds of billions each year.

Chickens, pigs, cows, ducks, geese, foxes, minks, rats, mice, fish, dogs, horses, monkeys and others are hidden from sight and mind by those who profit, sometimes enormously, from their lives. These animals are hidden to escape industry scrutiny.

Curious piglets look at one another from inside a small pen in Canada. At this farm, there are no windows facing the exterior. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media

We Animals Media scrutinizes these industries by documenting animals who we normally don’t see — who we often aren’t allowed to see — in photo and video. Founded by award-winning photographer Jo-Anne McArthur, we are the world’s leading animal photojournalism agency. We work to expose what is happening to some of the billions of animals we confine and kill, but also to share the lives of animals living peacefully in sanctuaries and the caretakers watching over them. Both their peril and their beauty.

A young girl shows affection to Ted, a rescued cow, at Farm Sanctuary, US. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media

Photographing these animals is new. Animal photojournalism (APJ) is an emerging genre of photography that borrows from both wildlife conservation photography and war photography. From conservation photography, APJ takes the professional skill of capturing and portraying animal subjects in personal, relatable ways. From war photography, APJ takes boldness and ingenuity to document brutality and systematic violence that political forces try to hide.

Activists document conditions for hens in an egg-laying barn in Spain. Jo-Anne McArthur / Animal Equality / We Animals Media

As an animal photojournalism agency, We Animals Media produces, commissions and promotes visual documentation of animal exploitation and benevolence. Our stock site, populated with over 10,000 visuals from over 40 international photographers, is a royalty-free resource for journalists, campaigners, academics, educators and others. There you can find the visuals you need to help tell animal stories.

This is our little introduction. On Medium we’ll have writers provide context for their animal photojournalism, tell their stories of being in the field and offer hope that our relationship with animals can change. You can see our work at weanimalsmedia.org, where you can browse and use our stock platform, read about our latest photography book, HIDDEN: Animals in the Anthropocene, subscribe to our newsletter for updates on new material and events, or donate to help further our non-profit mission.

Thanks for reading,

Warren with We Animals Media.

Warren Bowen is the Communications Director at We Animals Media.

Clarification: an earlier version stated the number of animals killed for human use was in the tens, not hundreds, of billions.