OUR ADVOCACY
The animals don't care how we act, just that our actions are urgent and effective.
We employ a variety of non-violent direct actions to engage communities, businesses and governments to end their reliance on animal sourced products. It is urgent that we complete these campaigns to get to the ones that follow.
"We need to look towards the idea of collective liberation where we’re not just fighting for animal rights but were fighting for human rights, liberation of the environment, so forth and so on.
- Jake Conroy
ANIMALS USED FOR FOOD
WORKING TO REMOVE ANIMALS FROM THE FOOD SYSTEM
01
Prohibiting Octopus Farming
Our work includes legislative advocacy to prohibit industrialized farming of Octopus on the basis of sentience and ecological harm to biosecurity. We sponsored legislation in Washington, Hawaii and Oregon, and our efforts inspired a bill in California and the U.K. Parliament.
02
Fair Value Pricing
Price-gouging plant-derived products gate-keeps health and longevity, and disproportionately impacts the global majority population in a negative way. Our work includes street advocacy, sit-ins, social media swarms, call-ins, protests, food & drink giveaways, and more.
03
Ending the Sale of Foie Gras
Foie Gras is a product of extreme cruelty. Animals are force-fed until their livers grow 10x their normal size, and the procedure often results in injury and sometimes even death. We do corporate outreach to restaurants to take this product banned in California off of their menu.
04
Peacemaker Potlucks
Highlighting the interconnectedness between the struggle to be set free for all oppressed groups, we gather together to honor activists that stood for justice, peace, and equality. We continue the work of legends like Martin Luther King Jr, Mahatma Gandhi, Regan Russel and Jill Phipps. We bring communities together to extend our compassion to all beings and expand the movement.
ANIMALS USED FOR FASHION
Humane Clothing Campaign
What's Wrong With Fur?
Over 100 million minks, foxes, rabbits, chinchillas and other animals are caged and killed every year so that humans may wear nonessential accouterments made of their fur.
What Sets Fur Apart?
The animals typically farmed for fur are not covered under the federal Animal Welfare Act nor the Humane Slaughter Act, which allows harvesters to use barbaric and cruel methods to obtain and preserve the fur without damage, like electrocution and gassing. The animals used for fur are killed after only a single harvest. Mustelids, like minks, are highly susceptible to coronaviruses which can spill-back to humans. The bodies are not eaten, and are often discarded in mass grave sites or burned, releasing toxic amounts of pollution into the ecosystem.
Fur Production & Farmer Transition
Our organization has been working with government officials in Washington State to close remaining fur farms and transition to more up-to-date and efficient crops.
Tactics
Non-violent direct action, call-ins, social media swarms, and legislative actions to protect animals.
Victories
Our sustained advocacy against the fur trade has yielded significant victories. Major retailers, including Mario's, Macy's, Saks 5th Avenue, Nordstrom, Canada Goose, Moncler, and Paul Stuart, have all banned fur products following our participation in targeted campaigns. We have had legislative initiatives in Washington since 2020, aimed at banning fur production and sales. Over 50% of fur farms in the state have closed or did not renew their licenses since the beginning of our work.
Leather
Just like in the fur industry, the animals used for leather must be killed upon harvesting their skin. Leather is not a by-product of the meat industry. Many alternatives exist to animal-sourced leather. Our work has consisted of non-violent direct action and corporate outreach.
EVERY ANIMAL PROJECT
Beyond the scope of food and clothing, animal use is deeply entrenched into our every day lives. This includes research, entertainment, wildlife management, and more.
In 2023, we proposed a bill (HB:1097) to prohibit the use of inherently cruel in-vivo animal testing in the development of new cosmetics in the state of Washington in efforts to impact the over 500,000 animals used every year for this purpose, and we advocated for and publicly testified in court for mirrored legislation (HB:3213) in Oregon - both of which passed and are now law.
We also began a campaign to stop the breeding, importation and trafficking of animals as pets consisting of corporate outreach, letter delivery to stores, and multi-state protests throughout the year averaging one per month.
Furthermore, we introduced and advocated for two bills in Washington state (HB:1157 and SB:5148) that will ban the use of wild animals in the circus or any traveling act in an effort to spare elephants, tigers, bears, and more from abduction, captivity, and physical punishment to perform tricks for human entertainment. We supported and advocated for mirrored legislation in Oregon (HB:3214).
CIRCUS CRUELTY PREVENTION
Animals are poached from the wild and raised in solitary confinement, spending over 96% of their lifetimes in their traveling crates, forcing the animals to live in their own waste. These animals are physically abused with electric prods, tight collars, and other archaic tools like bull hooks. To keep the animals submissive, they are starved and deprived of water. We have been working on legislation in Washington with Rep. Leavitt, HB:1157, and Sen. Liias, SB:5148 and supporting the bill in Oregon HB:3214
ENDING IN-VIVO ANIMAL TESTING
Outdated and horrendous practices against live animals in cosmetic research have already been outlawed in 12 states around the U.S. More up to date tests exist and companies holding on to traditional tests must be urged to comply with the wishes of consumers in making products without subjecting animals to horrors. We've been working on expanding this legislation to Washington with Representative Walen (HB:1097) since 2021 and it was signed into law in March 2024.
PET BREEDING, IMPORTING, AND SALES
Companies like PETCO force consumers into complicity by selling animals from barbaric conditions all around the world. Petco ships 100,000 bettas per week to the U.S., and up to 1,000 of them die before they reach distributors. The reptile industry uses an estimated 30 million live wild animals each year. Shelters are overrun and animals often die in transport and on shelves. All animals deserve to live free of exploitation, and are not for our use as decoration or entertainment. We urge PETCO and PETSMART to move to adoption only policies, and stop supporting breeding mills!
PROTECTING AVIAN REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
Chickens have been selectively bred to lay far more eggs than their non-domesticated ancestors: Red Jungle Fowl. Where Red Jungle Fowl typically lay between ten to fifteen eggs a year, usually in two clutches, their domesticated descendants have been bred to lay up 250 to 300 eggs a year. This is extremely taxing on the bodies of these birds, and can cause complications such as cancer, egg impaction, peritonitis, egg binding, malnutrition and osteoporosis. We are advocating for for the legalization of the Suprelorin implant (“the implant”) to be approved for chickens not in the food system.
“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”
- John Wesley
ARI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Our EIN is
87-3745633. Donations are tax-deductible. Please help us continue our life-saving work.
info@animalrightsinitiative.org
www.animalrightsinitiative.org