The European Parliament in Brussels recently became the stage for a powerful photographic exhibition exposing the hidden suffering of animals exploited in factory farming across the EU.
On the 25th of March 2025, the European Parliament in Brussels became the stage for a powerful exhibition exposing the hidden suffering of animals exploited in factory farms across the EU. Organised by the European Institute for Animal Law & Policy and the European Environmental Bureau, the event featured large-scale photographs by renowned photojournalists, including Jo-Anne McArthur, whose images have long documented the realities of animal exploitation.
Throughout the three-day exhibition, thousands of visitors – including policy-makers and influential changemakers – were confronted with the stark brutality endured by billions of sentient beings each year in the EU. The photographs, which lined the Parliament’s walls, aimed to counteract the influence of agricultural industry lobbying by making the suffering of animals impossible to ignore.
Jo-Anne McArthur of We Animals Media said, “Those of us who continue to scream that animals are someone and not something are a minority, and so the photos – of the animals themselves – must shout alongside us. We bring them forth from farms, trucks, and slaughterhouses. Through their gaze and body language, they make their statements clear.”
One particularly harrowing image – depicting a piglet mid-castration, screaming and restrained – was removed from the exhibition before its official launch. According to Politico, the decision was made after Polish right-wing MEP Kosma Złotowski, who oversees internal events, described the photograph as “exceptionally drastic.” Surgical castration without anaesthesia remains legal and widespread in EU farms, despite European Commission promises to phase out the practice, which have yet to materialise.
During her address, McArthur recounted her early, shocking visits to farms and highlighted the violence inflicted on pigs, cows, calves, hens, chickens, rabbits, and fishes, as well as the suffering of farm workers. She also referenced the failure to evacuate animals during disasters such as fires and floods.
In her closing remarks to the European Parliament, McArthur said, “Factory farms are neither immutable nor inevitable. We built them, and we can dismantle them. They don’t belong in an age where we know about the inner lives of animals. It’s time to evolve and leave factory farms behind.”
Original source: https://veganfta.com
