2025. Evidence That Drives Change.

As 2025 draws to a close, it feels important to pause and reflect. Not simply on how much work has been done, but on what matters most to us at Tracks Investigations. Impact. In particular, legislative change driven by strong, credible evidence.

For nearly two decades, our role has been clear. To go where others cannot. To document what industries work hard to keep hidden. And to provide campaigners, journalists and policymakers with the evidence they need to push for change when resistance is strong and cruelty is normalised.

This year has seen that approach translate into tangible progress.

Turning Evidence into Law

In December, the UK Government published proposed commitments that directly reflect systems we have investigated and documented over many years. Cages and crates. Puppy farming. Trail hunting smokescreens. Practices designed to stay out of public sight.

These are not abstract policy issues. I have stood inside these systems. Filmed them. Witnessed the routine suffering they depend on, and the deliberate methods used to obscure it.

Alongside this, Parliament passed the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill. This is a major step towards shutting down the puppy smuggling trade.

For more than a decade, Tracks Investigations has worked with Dogs Trust and FOUR PAWS to expose this trade at every level. Puppy farms in Eastern Europe. Fake pet passports. Complicit vets. Weak border checks. Illegal roadside sales in the UK.

What ultimately shifted the political landscape was not a single investigation, but years of detailed documentation and sustained pressure. Evidence built patiently over time, used by campaigners to engage the public and by advocates to challenge weak regulation and political inertia.

This is why investigations matter. They provide proof. They give campaigns weight. And they make it far harder for decision makers to ignore what is happening behind closed doors.

A Nineteen Year Pattern of Change

In 2025, Tracks Investigations marked nineteen years of work. What began as a small idea has grown into a global effort spanning 58 countries and more than 300 investigations, delivered in collaboration with over 40 organisations.

Partnership has always been central to how we work, because lasting change happens faster when evidence is shared and used strategically.

This year alone, that long arc of investigative work has contributed to multiple legislative and policy outcomes.

Poland announced a fur farming ban, part of a wider domino effect following investigations we carried out in Belgium and France.

In Iceland, blood farm exposés forced a previously hidden industry into public view and onto the political agenda.

Live export investigations for Animals Australia continue to influence bans and public debate.

In France, investigations into the use of wild animals in entertainment helped free individual animals and contributed to legislation ending their exploitation in circuses.

Each of these outcomes followed its own timeline. None happened quickly. All relied on sustained investigative pressure.

Investigations Beyond Borders

Our work in 2025 also continued well beyond the UK.

Footage obtained during investigations we carried out for Cruelty Free International featured in Bloomberg Investigates’ Emmy winning documentary on the global monkey trade. The film exposed the laundering of wild caught macaques falsely labelled as captive bred and sold into the research industry.

The recognition is secondary. What matters is that undercover investigations brought an illegal and deeply abusive trade into public view, strengthening calls for accountability and reform.

Collective Effort

This work is only possible thanks to the commitment of a trusted team of investigators and researchers, whose expertise ensures our evidence is detailed, credible and capable of standing up to political and legal scrutiny.

Sharing Evidence and Building Strategy

This year I also spoke at conferences across the UK and Europe, and attended the AVA Summit in the United States. I spoke on the main stage at the Vegan and Animal Rights Conference, sharing experiences from nearly four decades of undercover investigations and how evidence has helped drive real legislative change.

I am now part of the VARC advisory group and have continued contributing through podcasts and discussions. These spaces matter. Investigations are most effective when they are embedded within broader movements that value collaboration, strategy and creativity.

Looking Ahead to 2026

The work does not slow.

In 2026, we will release Industry Standard, a sound based investigative arts project that explores new ways of bearing witness to hidden systems. At the same time, investigations across five continents are already in planning stages.

The aim remains unchanged. To expose what others want kept out of sight. To provide evidence that drives change. And to keep pushing until cruelty is no longer normalised or tolerated.

Progress never happens by accident. It happens because people persist.

That is what Tracks Investigations exists to do.