When we promise to expose the truth and inspire change, we’re not talking about incremental steps. This year, Animal Outlook delivered seismic shifts in how animals are treated, protected, and viewed in our society. Your support didn’t just open doors, it tore down walls.
As we look back at 2025, we’re not celebrating minor victories. We’re marking the moments when entire systems began to crumble under the weight of truth and justice. This wasn’t just a year of progress, it was a year of transformation.
The Investigations That Changed Everything
Manning Beef: From Exposé to Shutdown
Our undercover investigation at Manning Beef revealed some of the most horrific cruelty in our 30-year history: cows being butchered while appearing still conscious, animals shot multiple times in the head, and workers skinning the faces of cows while they jerked away from the knife.
The result? Another enforcement action by USDA based on our footage, adding to the 61 prior humane handling violations. Now, Los Angeles’ last remaining cow slaughterhouse, a facility that had operated cruelly since the 1920s, has permanently closed its doors. This victory wasn’t just about adding one more enforcement action to Manning Beef’s long list of violations. It was about permanently ending a century-long operation that had normalized extreme violence against animals in Los Angeles since the 1920s.
Live Markets: Pulling Back the Curtain
Our investigators documented widespread animal suffering at multiple live markets in the San Francisco Bay Area: frogs beheaded while conscious, turtles struck with mallets and cut apart while still moving, and fish repeatedly bludgeoned.
After presenting our evidence through several legal documents and public meetings, the San Francisco Commission of Animal Control and Welfare voted unanimously to issue formal guidance to the city to increase inspection and enforcement measures. The national media coverage from CBS, Daily Mail, and SF Standard amplified our message: no form of animal cruelty should be normalized.
Legal Victories That Set Precedents
Taking on Federal Agencies
Our legal team stood before federal judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to challenge the USDA’s dangerous “New Swine Inspection System” regulations. Previously, related legal advocacy efforts have already contributed to the USDA walking back its elimination of line speed caps, and we continue fighting to restore meaningful federal oversight of slaughterhouses.
Exposing Industry Deception
Our groundbreaking use of drone footage helped secure a six-figure class action settlement with Alderfer Poultry Farm over misleading “free-roaming” marketing claims. This landmark case established that the industry can’t hide behind deceptive marketing language while confining animals in cruel conditions.
Harvey’s Market Foie Gras Lawsuit
Our lawsuit against Harvey’s Market, in partnership with Legal Impact for Chickens, resulted in this DC butcher shop permanently stopping foie gras sales. The legal action successfully challenged deceptive marketing of force-fed duck products as “humanely raised” and “free range.”
Exposing Taxpayer-Funded Cruelty
Through Freedom of Information Act requests, we revealed how the USDA spent nearly $1 million of taxpayer money to exterminate close to 100,000 ducks at Crescent Duck Farm and exposed that over 6 million chickens from Hickman’s Eggs facilities were killed during bird flu outbreaks, with American taxpayers likely footing an estimated $95 million bill.
These investigations exposed the broken economics of animal agriculture: confine millions of animals in disease-prone conditions, wait for inevitable outbreaks, kill them inhumanely, and collect millions in government payouts.
Your Role in Creating Systemic Change
None of these victories happened by accident. They happened because supporters like you:
- Funded our investigators who dropped everything to document abuse
- Supported our legal team in bringing strategic cases against powerful interests
- Shared difficult but necessary footage that exposed the truth
- Took the VegPledge to align your personal choices with your values
Every investigation, legal victory, and corporate campaign was made possible by people who refused to accept the status quo.
The Work Ahead
While we celebrate these victories, we know our work is far from complete. In 2026, we’re already:
- Preparing new investigations into previously unexposed areas of animal exploitation
- Building legal cases that could establish new precedents for animal protection
- Developing campaigns targeting the largest food companies in the world
- Expanding our Farm Transitions program to help animal agriculture operations transition to plant-based production
Join Us for an Even More Powerful 2026
This is your invitation to be part of something revolutionary. Your year-end donation will directly fund:
- Brave investigators documenting abuse others want hidden
- Legal experts challenging systems that enable cruelty
- Strategic campaigns forcing corporate accountability
- Educational resources helping people align their choices with their values
When you donate to Animal Outlook, you’re not supporting an organization that plays by the rules, you’re fueling a movement that’s rewriting them.
Together, we’re not just fighting the system, we’re shattering it and building something better in its place.
