It’s easy to look back on 2025 and see only challenges — we lost Dr. Jane Goodall and Wallis Annenberg, and our dear Arthur Simoneau to the Los Angeles fires. But because of you, this year will be remembered for resilience. From coastal California to rural Mongolia, you turned the tide for animals who had no one else. Because of you, laws were rewritten, fences were torn down, and animals walked free. Here is the incredible impact you made in 2025.

Historic Victories: Changing the System

Some transformations take years to achieve. This year, your persistence paid off with historic legal and corporate victories that will protect animals for generations.

• Tule Elk Freed: In a massive win for wild animals and habitats, we achieved a historic victory to end ranching at Point Reyes. After years of campaigning, the elk are finally reclaiming their home!
• Elephant Freedom: The Louisville Zoo elephants made it to sanctuary.
• San Francisco Zoo: We toppled an unfit director, opposed dangerous panda plans, and secured an audit to begin the process of creating the first US ecopark.
• California Declaw Ban: You helped protect cats permanently when Governor Newsom signed a ban on declawing, ending this cruel practice once and for all.
• Defending Geese: Your pressure forced Michigan to cancel its goose gassing plan which saved geese! Foster City adopted a coexistence policy and our big friendly goose promoted compassion!
• Ending Abuse & Abandonment: In Florida, your voice was heard loud and clear with the passing of “Dexter’s Law” and “Trooper’s Law”, ensuring harsher penalties for those who abuse and abandon animals.
• Fur-Free Wins: Fashion has finally turned a corner. After years of pressure, we celebrated Vogue finally going fur-free and Poland banning fur farming!

Your donation makes change happen!

Lives Saved: Your Compassion in Action

Behind every statistic is a beating heart. Thanks to you, we were there to answer the call when animals were in their darkest moments.

Jackson’s Second Chance: You gave hope to the hopeless. When Jackson the dog was deliberately burned, you were there to support his recovery. Watch his incredible story of survival here.

A Rare Return to the Ocean: In a unique rescue, you helped coordinate the transport of a rare orange lobster from a grocery store in New York back to the ocean where he belongs.

Hope Animal Sanctuary & International Rescue: Your support kept our direct animal rescuers in the field from Hope Animal Sanctuary in Mississippi to our international partners around the globe, to aid over 10,000 dogs, cats, and other animals:

• Rescues: We saved a mama dog and pups abandoned in severe weather, and Otis and Baxter, who were left behind by a scammer abandoning them with a free pet sitter.
• Healing: You helped Pip Squeak, a tiny sick puppy, go from surviving to thriving, and saved five kittens from extreme heat. We also rescued a chained, starved dog just in time.
• India: Abandoned puppies are safe in our new puppy house, and our hero vet is on track to break world records for spaying/neutering. We also helped stop Delhi from indefinitely impounding stray dogs.

Unwavering Advocacy: Standing Up to Cruelty

You empowered us to be the loud, steadfast voice for animals whose cries go unheard. These are just a few of the animal voices we have raised this year… with your continued help, we will achieve victory!

• Zoos Held Accountable:  For a second year, we ranked Los Angeles Zoo #1 Worst Zoo for Elephants, rallied with local partners, and used every avenue to demand sanctuary instead of another zoo. We won’t stop until Billy and Tina walk free.
• Frankie’s Freedom Fighters: No more pet store cages for Frankie! The streets and news resounded with our calls to send Frankie the Monkey to a true sanctuary.
• Exotic Animals: West Hollywood passed a landmark live animal sales ban! We exposed cruel reptile shows in Anaheim and Pomona, where our parrot-inspired acrobats took flight!
• Justice for Cat "Crush" Victims: We protested disgusting "crush" videos in Los Angeles and San Francisco and held a global online rally and memorial, which supported China to launch an official inquiry! 

Don’t let the action stop now!

More Incredible 2025 Highlights

Every action counts. Here are dozens more ways you made a difference this year:

Global Advocacy & Campaigns

• Mongolia: Kept the country on track to enforce its new animal law with a spay/neuter pilot program
• Cat & Dog Meat: In the Philippines, we supported free spay/neuter clinics to snip off the meat supply. We celebrated many emotional adoptions like that of dog meat farm survivor Aurora from South Korea with her new family at SFO. We made great progress on our LA-Hanoi Sister City plan including a cat and dog meat ban — help us get it over the line in the new year!
• Stray Slaughter: Ricky Gervais joined our campaign to stop Türkiye's stray animal slaughter, and we formed partnerships to save lives amid the crisis. We drew international attention to Morocco’s dog massacre at a soccer match in Philly, and supported activists on the ground with rescue, spay, and neuter projects. Sadly, killings are still ongoing, but our pressure is working. Help us make it stop!

Justice for Animals

• Justice Served: We saw a maximum sentence for the man who decapitated Dexter the dog, 40 years for a Texas kitten killer, and prison time for a man who raped a pregnant dog. A fake rescuer also got 7 years for starving 140 dogs.
• Puppy Mills: Supported the premiere screening of Dog$piracy, which exposes vile puppy, kitten, and rabbit farms. Championed Victoria’s Law in Pennsylvania to crack down on breeders.
• Housing: We delivered vital shelter and care to dangerously exposed dogs across the Deep South.
• Entertainment: Plans for an idiotic and regressive Tucson Bull Run were stopped in its tracks after our campaign!

Wild Animals & Habitats

• Whales: Endangered whales got our help! Hawaii’s false killer whales and North Atlantic right whales face fishing gear entanglement, Southern Resident killer whales are threatened by turbines, and we battled to relist gray whales who are in severe decline from climate-driven prey loss, ship strikes, entanglement, pollution, and noise.
• Local Action: Thanked the Army Corps for protecting Ballona Wetlands, opposed Devil's Garden wild horse roundups, and worked to end the killing of owls.
• Forest Defense: Our "Chainsaw Ranger" and "Tree Creature" characters exposed insidious deforestation projects in Tomales Bay and across Marin County.
• Beavers: Installed a vital beaver deceiver which will save a whole family of beavers and generations of their offspring from cruel traps. 

Sustainable Activism & Community

• Events: Hosted National Animal Rights Day, the Homo Ahimsa Award Ceremony, and Healing Hearts Activist Appreciation Month events, including sponsoring Pakistan’s first animal rights ceremony!
• Freedom Farms: Hosted a Music Bingo fundraiser, the first "Freedom Farms Feast," a Miyoko Schinner book signing, and cared for our beloved cows.
• Education: Flooded news outlets with letters to stop harmful language, and celebrated World Frog Day.
• Compassion: Supported compassionate community-building and access to vegan food in Petersburg, VA.
• Fish: Urged a "fish-eye view" on Respect For Fish Day through our online and in-person events.

Other Key Wins

• Primate Victory: Celebrated the UMass primate lab shutdown, a bittersweet win for marmosets.
• Disaster Relief: Provided heroic rescue efforts during the Palisades Fire and helped animals bounce back.
• Legislation: We defeated dangerous bills that would have gutted and prevented protections for animals farmed for food, fur, and the pet trade.
• Cultural Change: Hosted the US Premiere of Lucy, the Stolen Lives of Elephants in Los Angeles and Dog$piracy in Pennsylvania.
• Spay & Neuter: Our spay/neuter assistance program expanded to help even more animals in Mississippi!

These victories didn’t happen by chance. They happened because people like you made them possible.

When you step forward, we can expand our work exposing cruelty, challenging powerful industries, rescuing animals in crisis, and changing laws that once seemed untouchable.

As we look to 2026, the path forward is clear. There are elephants still waiting for sanctuary, animals trapped in exploitative systems, wild animals still victimized by hunting and trapping, and laws that protect industries instead of lives. 

You determine how far we can go. With your support, we won’t just react to cruelty: we will dismantle it.

If you believe animals deserve more than incremental change, if you want the kind of victories that redefine what is possible, we invite you to accelerate the next year of advocacy, rescue, and reform.

Thank You

Together, we can make 2026 even bigger for animals!

Donate to Power the Movement in 2026