Wow, Andrew’s photos get me every time. They’re a powerful reminder of why we do this work, and why our support is so very needed.
Today is World Farm Animals Day, and in partnership with another member of the Mended Heart Society, we are offering a triple match for all gifts made today—up to $50,000—to bring an end to this horrific suffering. [[link removed]]
We need your help to reach this goal. Will you join us?
For the animals,
Melody Hildebrandt
Mended Heart Society member
TRIPLE MY GIFT [[link removed]]
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I’m a photographer on the front lines of industrial agriculture. And it’s terrifying. [[link removed]]
When I followed an ad that said “fresh eggs for sale,” I had no idea I’d find a farm that was pure hell for hens.
I pushed open the metal door to the barn and couldn’t believe what I was seeing: rows upon rows of medieval-looking cages. Feces covering every inch of the floor. Dim lights hanging from the ceiling. And the overwhelming noise of terrified animals.
For the first 15 minutes, I was in such a state of shock that I couldn’t lift my camera. I roamed through the shed, wondering how a place like this could exist.
Once I started taking pictures, I was even more appalled by what I saw. Dead hens were sprawled along the rusty conveyor belt. The eggs were splattered with blood and feces. I had to pick my steps to avoid the corpses of animals that had rotted for so long they were almost mummified.
I won’t lie. It’s hard to go to these farms and face the abuse head-on. It’s emotionally exhausting. My photos don’t capture the groans, the screams, or the whimpers—sounds I carry with me long after I leave.
They didn't consent to this cruelty. And we don't have to either.
MATCH MY GIFT [[link removed]]
As a photojournalist, I know how powerful images can be. Consumers are used to seeing happy animals on cartons and containers in supermarkets. But that’s nothing like what’s really going on. My work captures the truth, uncovering the filth and suffering—the brutal exploitation—that the industry considers acceptable.
Of course, the meat, dairy, and egg industries don’t want me there taking pictures. Which means you have to get creative. When they close the door, you enter through a window. If there is no window, you try through the chimney. What I am doing is civil disobedience. I am showing what is morally unacceptable, even when it is legally permitted.
As a supporter of The Humane League, you too are helping to expose and end this abuse.
Although I grew up in a city, I spent most of my holidays in the countryside, where my parents grew up. It was normal for us to kill a chicken for dinner or slaughter a pig for a feast. I learned that animals are there to be eaten. That we pet them and care for them and, eventually, kill them. Even as a child I couldn’t fully accept this, and no adult could explain why this was okay.
When I got older, I stopped eating meat and started documenting the suffering that’s normally hidden behind closed doors on factory farms. With my camera, I wanted to amplify the voices of innocent animals in the name of justice. Images stay in our heads, they stir our feelings, and they reveal the truth. My job is to uncover this reality.
MATCH MY GIFT [[link removed]]
People sometimes ask me why I document this abuse instead of helping the animals who are suffering right in front of me. But there’s no way I could have saved all the animals I’ve seen. Chickens so huge they can’t walk. Geese transported in heat pushing 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Pigs in cages, one next to the other, filling whole halls by the thousands.
With my pictures, I want to reveal the horrible truth that’s locked behind the walls of farms, truck trailers, and slaughterhouse gates. And, ultimately, I want to move people everywhere to take action—for the animals. I expose what our broken food system doesn’t want us to see. And you drive change through your support.
Your donations and your advocacy pressure huge corporations to change. Compassionate people like you force them to improve the lives of millions of animals, to end their most abusive practices, when they would have preferred to keep doing exactly what they’ve been doing. Together, our work is creating a better world.
I look forward to a future when there are no more photos to be taken—because there are no more animals exploited, deprived, or forgotten. This World Farm Animals Day, will you help bring us closer to a future when I can finally put my camera down?
In solidarity,
Andrew Skowron
Photographer
MATCH MY GIFT [[link removed]]
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We exist to end the abuse of animals raised for food. But we can’t do it without you. The Humane League is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization ranked "Best In America" by the Independent Charities of America and ranked one of the world's four most effective animal protection organizations by Animal Charity Evaluators. Our federal EIN number is 04-3817491.
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