Farm Animal Welfare in Asia

We support the farm animal advocacy movement in Asia to advocate for reforms that reach a vast number of animals.

Asia is home to over 75% of the world’s farmed animals: 90% of farmed fish, and 45% of farmed land animals. As the region’s economies and per-capita income have grown, so too has demand for animal-based products. This is causing a rapid move toward increasingly intensive and inhumane animal farming practices. For these reasons, we’re interested in seeing a successful and growing farm animal advocacy movement in Asia. 

The farm animal welfare movement across Asia is developing by building a pipeline of talented, passionate, and diverse advocates working on the cause, securing corporate animal welfare pledges, helping companies implement them, and promoting the widespread adoption of better welfare practices and standards. 

Advocates in Asia have secured impressive wins for farmed animals, including commitments from global companies to expand their animal welfare policies to Asia: today, nearly 300 multinational food companies have cage-free policies that apply to Asia, while many Asian food companies have broader farm animal welfare policies.

The work of Asian advocates also resulted in Thai-based CP Foods, a global top-three producer of shrimp, poultry and pork, committing to increase its production of cage-free eggs, phase out all painful mutilations like castration, teeth clipping, and tail cutting in pigs, and end the practice of ablating (removing) eyestalks in shrimp.

Many multinational food companies with cage-free policies haven’t applied those policies in Asia. Part of our funding strategy will involve supporting groups to help companies implement their pledges in the Asian market. We are also looking to support the growth of farm animal welfare groups in countries where many animals could be helped.