20 years of animal protection
To celebrate twenty years of Voiceless working to protect animals, we donated $20,000 to help twenty animals who routinely suffered from systemic and legalised human cruelty and exploitation. Twenty inspirational organisations and advocates received $1,000 each as a token of our appreciation for their outstanding advocacy work and contribution towards protecting a dedicated animal.
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CowsCompanion Cows is a not-for-profit, registered charity that rescues, rehabilitates, rehomes, and represents dairy cows and their babies. |
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ChickensLet the Ladies Go is a non-profit charity aiming to end the exploitation of chickens by saving them from slaughter, re-homing and providing a loving retirement from a life of continuous egg laying.
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DogsOscar’s Law is a non-profit charity that aims to stop the factory farming of companion animals by banning the sale of puppies in pet shops, encouraging adoption, and promoting responsible pet ownership. Photo credit: We Animals Media |
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DolphinsAction for Dolphins advocates for the protection of dolphins and challenges practices that harm them. They work tirelessly to change laws, educate the public, and promote institutional changes that lead to safer, healthier dolphin lives.
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DonkeysStarting Over is an Israeli-based animal rescue organisation and shelter. Before the conflict between Israel and Gaza, they would fly and relocate donkeys to a safer location in France to provide them sanctuary and freedom for life. This project is now on hold due to the conflict, which has resulted in almost 800 donkeys living in overcrowded and stressful conditions. They require financial assistance to expand their sanctuary (including fencing new areas, building sheds and additional feeding facilities).
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DingoesAboriginal people have strong belief systems that value nature. The Dingo is not only a cultural keystone species, but it is also kin (family). Dingo Culture provides the First Nations’ voice specifically to the Dingo debate in Australia and creates change in legislation to protect culturally significant native fauna and flora. |
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DucksCoalition Against Duck Shooting The Coalition Against Duck Shooting is a non-profit charity working towards permanently banning the recreational shooting of native waterbirds in Australia. |
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SharksProject Hiu operates under the idea that conservation should be approached with compassion and that sharks and the men who fish them are victims of an international trade for shark fins. Working with and not against the shark fishing community in Lombok, Indonesia, Project Hui helps to transition fishermen away from the fishing industry through education and alternative income streams like tourism.
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SheepLamb Care Australia is a non-profit charity that aims to rescue, rehabilitate and rehome as many orphaned, abandoned, sick, injured or unwanted lambs and sheep as possible in Australia. |
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Wild CatsAustralia’s only network dedicated to banning 1080 poison (the indiscriminate poison affecting all animals, including wild cats) is on a mission to support Australians by providing free services, information, and tools to educate, raise awareness, and lobby for change in their communities.
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BearsAnimals Asia is dedicated to ending the cruel practice of bear bile farming. They are on the verge of achieving a milestone by eliminating the centuries-old practice of bile farming in Vietnam. In collaboration with the Vietnamese Government, they are rescuing the last bears trapped in the country’s bile farms. Last year, they inaugurated their second sanctuary in the country to give a home to these rescued bears. Along with a third sanctuary in China, Animals Asia now provides care to over 300 bears. Their specialised bear hospitals and veterinary programs are tailored to heal former bile bears, both mentally and physically. Photo credit: Animals Asia
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CamelsAnimal Liberation’s Australian-first exposé Breaking the camel’s back shows wild camels captured from the wild, roughly handled, psychologically ‘broken’, and forced into servitude by a popular tourism operator in the Northern Territory. The investigation highlights some of the issues inherent in animal-based tourism and the lack of animal welfare regulation and oversight within the industry.
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ChimpanzeesJane Goodall Institute Australia For almost 30 years, the Jane Goodall Institute’s (JGI) Tchimpounga Sanctuary in the Congo, has been home to over 200 chimpanzees orphaned, malnourished, or injured by the illegal wildlife trade and deforestation. Surrounded by 129,000 acres of dense rainforest and savannah, lies a safe haven for chimpanzees, providing a natural barrier to keep them safe from wild chimpanzees, bushmeat hunters, encroaching development and other threats. Thanks to an incredible team of on-the-ground experts, compassionate caregivers, and dedicated local communities, these rescued chimpanzees are given a second chance. Photo credit: Fernando Turmo/JGI
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CrocodilesDefend the Wild’s Drop Croc campaign is a coalition effort to end the factory farming of the world’s largest reptile. In 2021, Defend the Wild released their campaign with world-first vision provided by Farm Transparency Project, exposing luxury fashion house Hermès for their cruel treatment of native saltwater crocodiles. On farms, crocodiles are kept in isolated pens that resemble nothing of their natural environment, to prevent them from ‘damaging’ their valuable skins. In 2023, Defend the Wild filmed Skin Deep, a documentary looking at the experience of Donny Imberlong, a Jaru man living on the traditional lands of the Miriwoong Gajerrong people, while working on a Darwin crocodile farm in 2017. The documentary is currently touring Australia before public release.
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FishesThe Aquatic Life Institute aims to improve aquatic animal welfare on a global scale. Between 2-3 trillion wild fish and 100 billion farmed fish are killed globally each year for human consumption. Farmed fishes live in high-suffering conditions, and there is negligible advocacy aimed at improving their welfare. Fishes feel pain, emotion, and have impressive cognitive abilities, and deserve our protection.
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GoatsFurever Farm is a rescue, sanctuary, and rehoming farm for rural animals in South Australia, many of its residents being unwanted, abused and orphaned goats. Their mission is to provide love, care, devotion and commitment to these rescued animals along with educating to the community about the importance of animal protection and compassion. |
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Wild HorsesThe Animal Defender’s Office (ADO) uses the law to protect the interests of animals, including brumbies. The ADO’s advocacy for the protection of brumbies included several written submissions recommending against the proposed aerial shooting of brumbies in Kosciuszko National Park and the adoption of non-lethal measures, if required. Principal Lawyer for the ADO, Tara Ward, provided evidence in a recent hearing emphasising that the aerial shooting of wild animals is inherently cruel and is a strong advocate for protecting Australia’s wild horses in the media. |
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KangaroosRed Box Wildlife Shelter’s Roo Ranger’s education programme was inspired by a young joey, Nikki, and Scott Medwell rescued and named Mr Boo. They wanted to share Boo’s story with others in the hope that it would inspire compassion and understanding in the community for these iconic, native animals. Now available online, Mr Boo and his story can be shared with children around the world to learn about kangaroos and make the commitment to ensuring their protection. Photo credit: Tamara Kenneally Photography
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OrangutansThe Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC) aims to disrupt and help dismantle the criminal networks that profit from wildlife trafficking. By collecting evidence and turning it into accountability, significant convictions against orangutan traffickers in Indonesia were made early this year, marking progress in this fight. The arrests stemmed from a joint investigation by the Wildlife Justice Commission and Indonesian National Police aimed at dismantling orangutan supplier networks operating from Indonesia to Thailand. Notably, the operation resulted in the rescue of two infant orangutans and demonstrated the transformative power of the law to protect these threatened species.
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PigsContented Pig Inn Rescue Sanctuary is a refuge for pigs affected by mistreatment, abandonment, and neglect. For the duration of their natural lives, they are shown care and compassion as they work to rehabilitate and form relationships on their own terms. They have the freedom to root in the soil, lay in the mud, and play with their friends without ever having to face the fear of an abattoir.
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