Voiceless: The Animal Protection Institute
Voiceless is a non-profit animal protection organisation founded in 2004 and based in Sydney, Australia. Its aim is to promote respect, caring and compassion for animals by increasing awareness of the conditions in which they live and taking action to protect them from suffering. According to its mission statement, “Voiceless will bring the institutionalised suffering of animals to the forefront of Australia’s agenda; ensuring that animal protection is the next great social justice movement.” Primarily sponsored by the Sherman family, Voiceless also receives sponsorship and support from organisations such as Hunter Hall International Limited, Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, Biodistributors Tasmania and many other supportive companies and individual donors.
Voiceless’s work includes:
- Creating and fostering networks of leading lawyers, politicians and academics to influence law and public policy;
- Conducting high quality research and analysis of animal industries, exposing legalised cruelty and promoting informed debate;
- Creating a groundswell for social change by building and fortifying the Australian animal protection movement with select Grants and Prizes; and
- Aiming to inform consumers and empower them to make animal-friendly choices.
In the past 5 years Voiceless has evolved into one of Australia’s leading animal protection groups as recognised by Government and stakeholders in animal industries. Some of their achievements include:
- Investing over a million dollars nationwide to capacity-build the animal protection movement and create meaningful social change.
- Building the first legal team within an Australian animal protection organisation, dedicated to seeking justice for animals.
- Creating the first-ever Australian animal law lecture series with some of the world’s most prominent and successful international animal law experts. Each year the series continues to grow due to the generous support of Law Schools, Professional Legal Associations, Law Firms and Legal Publishers across the country.
- Publishing reports on factory farming, including From Paddocks to Prisons: Future Directions on the NSW pig industry, From Label to Liable: Scams, Scandals and Secrecy on animal-derived food product labelling and From Nest to Nugget: an exposé of Australia's chicken factories. Voiceless’s reports have led directly to debates in both Federal and State Parliaments and received coverage in key national TV, print and radio media outlets.
- Advocating for animals in major Australian and International forums. Voiceless has been invited to speak at over 30 Australian and international events including the Minding Animals Conference 2009, Future of Animal Law Conference, Harvard (March 2007), Animals and Society II: Considering Animals, Hobart (July 2007) and the Australian Law Reform Agencies Conference, Sydney, April 2006.