Our Impact for Animals
Strategic Investigations That Drive Change
For nearly two decades, Tracks Investigations has exposed hidden cruelty within industrial animal agriculture, live animal transport, laboratories, the wildlife trade, and other exploitative industries.
Our investigations do more than document suffering. They provide the evidence used by NGOs, journalists, policymakers, and legal teams to drive legislative reform, corporate pressure campaigns, media exposés, and public debate.
Since 2006, Tracks has conducted more than 300 investigations across 58 countries, working in partnership with over 40 animal protection organisations worldwide. Our footage and evidence have contributed to bans on live animal exports, fur farming, wild animals in circuses, and slaughter without stunning, while supporting some of the largest farm animal campaigns in Europe and beyond.
Tracks Investigations specialises in undercover infiltration, covert filming, worker engagement, and long-term evidence gathering inside industries that operate behind closed doors.
Alongside these campaigns, Tracks has conducted extensive investigations into factory farming systems involving pigs, hens, dairy production, slaughterhouses, and long-distance transport across multiple continents.
Our investigations have contributed to:
• bans on live animal exports
• fur farming phaseouts across Europe
• bans on wild animals in circuses
• slaughter reform legislation
• enforcement action against laboratories
• major factory farming campaigns across the EU
• international scrutiny of the global primate trade
Below are some examples of how strategic investigations can help drive real-world change.
UK Bans Live Animal Exports
In May 2024, the UK formally enacted a landmark ban on live animal exports for slaughter and fattening, ending a trade that caused immense suffering to millions of animals over decades.
Tracks Investigations has documented the live export trade for nearly two decades, building on work dating back to the 1990s. Our undercover investigations for Compassion In World Farming exposed the harsh conditions animals endured during long-distance transport across Europe and beyond, helping keep the issue in the public eye through sustained media coverage and campaigning.
This historic legislation marked the culmination of decades of investigative work by animal protection organisations, campaigners, and investigators.
Australia Phases Out Live Sheep Exports
Tracks Investigations has worked extensively with Animals Australia since 2006 to expose cruelty within the global live export industry, conducting investigations throughout the Middle East and Asia.
Our footage documented appalling conditions during transport and slaughter, helping trigger international media attention, public outrage, and political pressure for reform. The investigations contributed to years of public scrutiny, regulatory reform, and growing political pressure to end the trade.
Tracks has documented animal transport systems across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia for nearly two decades. In 2024, the Australian Parliament passed legislation to phase out live sheep exports by sea, with the ban coming into force in 2028.
“The commitment, courage, expertise and professionalism of Tracks investigators undoubtedly makes them world leaders in this field.”
Animals Australia
Fueling Europe’s End the Cage Age Movement
Tracks Investigations provided undercover footage for Compassion in World Farming’s End the Cage Age campaign, helping expose the hidden suffering of animals confined within industrial farming systems across Europe.
The campaign became the most successful European Citizens’ Initiative relating to farmed animals, gathering 1.4 million signatures and forcing the issue of cage confinement onto the political agenda across the European Union.
Our investigations helped bring the realities of factory farming into mainstream public and political debate.
Belgium Bans Fur Farming
Belgium became the 18th European country to ban fur farming following years of investigative work exposing conditions inside mink farms.
Working alongside GAIA, Tracks Investigations documented cruelty across every operational fur farm in the country during an eight-year investigative campaign. Our footage revealed severe confinement, injuries, psychological distress, and the realities of industrial fur production.
The evidence was widely used by media outlets, campaigners, and policymakers, helping build sustained public and political pressure that ultimately led to legislative change.
France Phases Out Fur Farming
Between 2016 and 2020, Tracks Investigations conducted undercover investigations into every operational fur farm in France.
The investigations revealed animals confined in barren cages, suffering injuries, stress, and severe psychological distress. The footage generated widespread media coverage and public outrage.
In 2021, France passed legislation to phase out mink farming nationwide.
Belgium Bans Slaughter Without Stunning
In 2019, Belgium introduced a ban on slaughter without stunning in both Flanders and Wallonia.
Tracks Investigations contributed to this shift through investigations spanning more than a decade, documenting the suffering experienced by animals slaughtered without prior stunning.
The footage helped inform public debate and supported calls for legislative reform.
UK Cracks Down on Puppy Smuggling
Over an 11-year period, Tracks Investigations carried out multiple investigations for Dogs Trust and Four Paws into the illegal puppy trade across Europe and the UK.
Our investigations exposed puppy farms, forged pet passports, weak border controls, and illegal sales networks exploiting the Pet Travel Scheme, including the growing role of online and social media sales.
The evidence helped drive widespread media coverage and parliamentary attention, contributing to new legislation aimed at tackling puppy smuggling and strengthening animal welfare protections.
Exposing the Global Primate Trade
Tracks Investigations has conducted extensive investigations into the international trade in macaques for research.
Our investigations documented breeding farms, holding facilities, capture operations, and export networks across Asia and Africa, exposing stress, injury, and systemic cruelty within the primate trade.
This work contributed to major international scrutiny of the industry, including the suspension of macaque exports from Laos and increased pressure for stronger protections for long-tailed macaques internationally.
France Bans Wild Animals in Circuses
Tracks Investigations documented the conditions endured by wild animals used in travelling circuses across France, including tigers confined for months inside transport cages on industrial estates.
The investigations revealed severe confinement, deprivation, and poor welfare hidden behind public performances.
Following sustained public pressure and media coverage, France passed legislation banning the use of wild animals in travelling circuses.
Tracks Investigations also exposed the hidden suffering of bears used in entertainment, contributing to France banning bear shows and the private keeping of wild bears.
Investigating Industrial Animal Agriculture Worldwide
Tracks Investigations has conducted extensive undercover investigations into factory farming systems involving pigs, hens, dairy production, slaughterhouses, and long-distance animal transport across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
Working alongside leading animal protection organisations, our investigations have exposed confinement systems, animal suffering, transport abuses, and systemic welfare failures hidden within industrial agriculture. This work has supported major media exposés, public awareness campaigns, corporate pressure initiatives, and legislative reform efforts internationally.