Species Unite

Todd Friedman: The Pig Who Changed Everything

"You want people to stop eating these animals and the only way to do it is to showcase them in a light where people see them as individuals, and not just a sandwich in the morning, or breakfast, or a dinner at Christmas holidays. These are individuals that feel pain, that feel happiness, that feel sadness and have friends and have families and have these big, beautiful units and they love each other. And when we showcase that, we get messages on a daily basis and people stop eating meat because of the animals at Arthur's Acres." - Todd Friedman In 2018, Todd Friedman walked onto a property he was told was empty, and instead he found a pig - abandoned, starving and alone. Todd named him Arthur, and that moment changed everything. It led to the creation of Arthur's Acres, a sanctuary built on land that once functioned as a backyard slaughterhouse. What followed was seven years of hard work and a commitment to doing right by animals who are almost always treated as expendable - pigs used in laboratories, pigs bred and discarded, pigs sold under the myth of being teacup pets, pigs so neglected or obese that they're on the brink of death. Today, Arthur's Acres is home to 50 pigs, each one known by name. Each treated as an individual. It's become a place where people don't just learn about pigs, they fall in love with them. This conversation is about what happens when you really see who pigs are, and why sanctuaries matter.  https://www.arthursacresanimalsanctuary.org/

Dan Shannon: How Change Happens

"There will come a time in the future where historians look back on this era of history and sort of see it as this moment of historical atrocity, which is what I think it is today. I do think that factory farming and the suffering caused to billions and billions of animals every single year is a moral atrocity of historic proportions. I think we see it that way today, and I am very confident it will be seen that way by a kind of broad consensus in the future. But that's not inevitable. We have to do the work get to get there. And that's exactly what we're trying to do at the Humane League, is kind of take the steps that we think are the steps to be taken today, to ultimately bring about the end of factory farming in the long run." - Dan Shannon Factory farming is one of the greatest moral atrocities of our time. Yet it's treated like background noise. Tens of billions of animals are raised in systems designed to keep suffering efficient and invisible. The cages, the confinement, the speed, and the cruelty are all hidden behind corporate branding and grocery store shelves. And even though awareness is growing, the numbers of animals in our food system keeps rising. This conversation is with Dan Shannon, the CEO of The Humane League, one of the most effective organizations in the world when it comes to forcing the food industry to change. Dan is helping lead the fight to eliminate one of the most atrocious practices in agriculture - battery cages, where chickens live in tiny, cramped cages for their entirety of their lives. This is a conversation about strategy, momentum, and what it really looks like to dismantle cruelty.

Dax Dasilva: Echoes from Eden

"I really think it's a story is about the heroes, the conservation heroes. It's each one of their stories and then it's about my personal growth story of being absolutely useless in the jungle and how I got decent by the end of it." – Dax Dasilva There are moments when you look at the world — at forests collapsing, oceans warming, species disappearing — and you feel a kind of disbelief that we've allowed this to become normal. Because what's happening to the living world isn't abstract. It's ancient ecosystems being stripped bare. It's entire islands scarred by erosion. It's extinction unfolding in real time — while most of us go about our lives as if the natural world will somehow survive without us changing anything. This conversation not about doom. It's about what happens when someone decides: Not on my watch. It's with Dax Dasilva — founder of Lightspeed — who, after seventeen years as CEO, stepped back for two years and poured $40 million into frontline conservation projects around the world. Dax returned to Lightspeed in 2024. He went where most people will never go — deep into the Amazon, into Haiti and Madagascar where deforestation has pushed ecosystems to the brink… onto beaches where leatherback turtles, older than the dinosaurs, are still fighting to survive. His new book is called Echoes from Eden, a tribute to the people doing everything they can to save the planet - the local conservation heroes quietly holding the line for all of us.

Rebecca Bose: Undoing an American Extinction

"I don't know of another animal mammal that does not protect their young. Everybody protects their young. A wolf does too if another predator came. Of course they would protect their young. But with humans, they are that afraid of us, that they will leave their den. They will leave." – Rebecca Bose At a moment when gray wolves in the United States are once again under serious threat, with the House just voting to delist them, it's worth asking a question that we seem determined to forget Once we remove protections and populations collapse. Do we really think history won't repeat itself? This conversation is with Rebecca Bose, curator at the Wolf Conservation Center, where she has spent the last 25 years working at the intersection of recovery and survival for some of the most endangered wolves on the planet. Rebecca is deeply involved in the painstaking effort to undo past mistakes, helping recover Mexican gray wolves and red wolves, two species that were nearly wiped out entirely by government sanctioned killing. Rebecca walks us through what bringing wolves back actually means - decades of captive breeding, genetic management, pup fostering operations that involve private pilots, biologists hiking for hours into remote wilderness, and an enormous amount of human labor all to give a handful of animals a chance to survive in a world that is still deeply hostile to them. And we talk about who wolves actually are: parents, teachers, sentient beings with relationships and roles that shape entire ecosystems. This is a conversation about memory, responsibility, and what happens when we repeat history instead of learning from it. *Correction from the interview: the current Mexican wolf population is at a minimum of 286 animals on the landscape, not 386.

Gemunu de Silva: Industry Standard

"I grew up and I became vegetarian listening to punk albums because there was a real punk scene which talked about vegetarianism, which talked about veganism, which talked about the peace movement. And that really influenced me. And there was one record specifically by a band called, Conflict that I listened to and I went vegetarian, and that's the power of music. You know, it's not traditional advocacy. So in a way, I'm kind of paying homage to how I got into animal rights. And I want this album not to be a traditional advocacy tool." - Gemunu de Silva  For nearly four decades, Gemunu de Silva has gone where almost no one else will: inside factory farms, slaughterhouses, fur farms, laboratories, and the hidden corners of global animal industries. Gem is one of the world's most experienced undercover investigators, his work has exposed cruelty across six continents, helped shut down industries and change laws, saving millions of animals in the process. But after 37 years of investigations, he began to realize something unexpected. It wasn't only the images that stayed with him. It was the sounds. The outcry of the animals, the hum of machinery, the clatter of metal, the silence and the noise that animals are forced to live inside every day. In this conversation, Gem joins us to talk about his most unconventional project yet, Industry Standard, an album built from real recordings gathered during decades of undercover investigations. Part music, part journalism, part art, the record captures the industrial soundscape of animal exploitation in a way that no one has ever done before. It's not just an album — it's evidence. And once you hear it, you can't unhear it. Links:  https://www.tracksinvestigations.org/industrystandard https://bandcamp.com/private/P0OU3NM2   INDUSTRY STANDARD:  Advocacy and Use - Sound as a Tool for Change Industry Standard is more than an album. It is a resource for advocacy, education, and campaigning. Built on authentic field recordings from investigations, it offers a new way to engage audiences emotionally and viscerally, especially in spaces where imagery may not be possible, appropriate, or effective. This is sonic storytelling with a purpose. Each track bears witness to real places, real animals, and real suffering, but also offers a reflective space to process, feel, and act.   Ways to Use the Album Podcasts, Radio, and Media We welcome opportunities for interviews, audio features, or creative collaborations. Gemunu de Silva is available to talk about the making of the album, the field recording process, and how it connects to broader investigations and activism. Exhibitions and Installations Industry Standard can be adapted for gallery and museum settings. The tracks can be played with or without accompanying visuals. We can also provide the full eight-page insert artwork for display or digital projection. Outreach and Awareness The album can be shared at stalls, events, and festivals, either as a conversation starter or as part of a deeper listening experience. QR codes to the album and visuals can be printed on flyers, zines, or posters. Campaigning The sounds and visuals can be paired with specific investigations or issues to deepen public understanding. They are especially powerful in campaign launches, press events, or screenings. Education and Talks Use the tracks in schools, universities, or activist training settings to highlight the realities behind animal industries in a unique and memorable way. Listening together can be a powerful shared act of learning.   Get Involved If you are part of an animal group, educational body, media outlet, or cultural space and would like to use Industry Standard, please get in touch. We can help tailor the experience to your needs. 📩 gem@tracksinvestigations.org📦 Vinyl copies available on request for partners and educational use🔊 Digital versions can be supplied with or without visuals   Thanks & Partners This project, and the 300+ investigations behind it, would not have been possible without the collaboration and trust of more than 40 animal advocacy organisations around the world. We would like to thank all our partners, past and present, who have supported, commissioned, and shared our work. Tracks has conducted investigations for: A Promise to Animals, Animals Angels, Animals Australia, Animal Equality, Animal Protection Agency, Animal Welfare Foundation, Born Free, Brigitte Bardot Foundation, Brooke, BUAV, CAPS, Cats Protection, Canadian Horse Defence, Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), Change for Animals Foundation, Cruelty Free International, Dogs Trust, Eurogroup for Animals, Equine Rescue France, Four Paws, Franz Weber Foundation, Forsøgsdyrenes Værn, GAIA, Greenpeace, Hunt Investigation Team, Humane Society International, IFAW, International Animal Rescue, Marchig Trust, Mercy for Animals, One Voice, PETA, Princess Alia Foundation, Respect for Animals, Sinergia Animal, Surfers Against Sewage, Tierschutzbund Zürich, Varkens in Nood, World Animal Protection (WAP), WAP Canada and WAP Australia.