Discover The Power of Art and Stories 

Welcome to Arukah Animal International, an arts-based, animal-advocacy organization. At first glance, you may be greeted by a wonderfully robust snout and the fertile gaze of a lovely pig—the enchantment of a wonderful face shot into your vision with memorable singularity.

Our gallery of gorgeous portraits is a kind of rapturous homage to more-than-human animals, with the majority enjoying exhilarating freedom while throwing others’ captivity into anguished relief.

The site’s sweeping design and painterly photographs create a kind of communion with the natural world. We hope you are moved by what you see and what you hear. We are not the only species to tell stories.

What stories do these more-than-human animals tell each other and what do those stories say about who we are as humans?

What do animals communicate when imprisoned in the stygian abyss of factory farms?

What will it take for the heart to be open to these “other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth,” wrote naturalist Henry Beston.

Biologist Roger Payne, who was behind the 1970 “Songs of the Humpback Whale,” leading to the “Save the Whales movement, wrote, “If we could communicate with animals, ask them questions and receive answers—no matter how simple those questions and answers might turn out to be—the world might soon be moved enough to at least start the process of halting our runaway destruction of life.”

What do pigs, outrageously exuberant and high-spirited, when living freely and in the fullness of life, chat with each other about in feisty oinks, grunts, squeals, and “nuff nuff” sounds?

As E. B. White wrote in his masterpiece, “Charlotte’s Web,” one of the most sublime works of animal-rights advocacy ever put on paper, “It is quite possible that an animal has spoken civilly to me and that I didn’t catch the remark because I wasn’t paying attention.”

Arukah Launch Live-Streamed

Because of your support, we were over the moon to feature an all-star animal-protection cast at our launch live-streamed event—an in-depth rousing conversation and a steady flow of exhilarating and distinct ideas with such luminaries as Marc Bekoff, Dana Ellyn, Esther the Wonder Pig and her human dad, Steve Jenkins, Claudia Hirtenfelder, Annie Potts, and Jeff Sebo.

 Meet our illustrious panelists

• Marc Bekoff: Professor emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, and author of 31 books and winner of multiple awards for his research on animal behavior, animal emotions (cognitive ethology), compassionate conservation, and animal protection, as well as co-chair of the ethics committee at the Jane Goodall Institute.

• Dana Ellyn: full-time painter, focusing on animal-rights as one of her glorious subjects.

• Esther the Wonder Pig and Steve Jenkins: Glamor puss Esther is a social media sensation and celebrity, and Steve is her human dad and founder of The Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary.

• Claudia Hirtenfelder: founder, producer, and host of the award-winning podcast, “The Animal Turn.”

• Annie Potts: Professor on Human-Animal Studies and the Co-Director of the New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal studies at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch and author, most famously, of “Chicken.”

• Jeff Sebo: Clinical Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and an Affiliated Professor of Bioethics, Medical Ethics, Philosophy, and Law at New York University and author, most recently of He is also the author of “Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves.”

THANKS to you, our supporters, Arukah’s event opened with the short film premiere of “Pigs and Pathogens”: What’s on Your Plate? Rather, WHO’s on Your Plate?” There was an exchange about the recent Supreme Court’s significant upholding of Proposition 12, which bans the sale of pork in California from farms anywhere in the U.S. that confines pigs to gestation crates, which is customary practice in industrial farming. Prop 12’s allotment of extra space is just a drop in the bucket, according to Marc, who said, “The important thing is we don’t stop there.”

What are the implications for animal law? And how do we make real progress in animal protection as the pork producers are fighting back with a vengeance?

The panelists spoke of the urgencies for storytelling, using the arts, music, poetry, literature to inspire a radical shift among those who don’t yet appreciate that we share profound kinds of emotional life with other animals—that we are not separate and apart.

How best to achieve real engagement for all sentient life, to see more-than-human animals as individuals? As Claudia said, “All those pigs we saw in the film are individual pigs who experienced that. This is not some idea of a pig. Those pigs existed. It hits me every time.”

 What will awaken us to who animals are and to care deeply about them?

What role do the arts and film play in changing the current status quo? We have received testimonials from those who gave up eating pigs after watching both “Pigs and Pathogens” and the conversation.

Faith Middleton, two-time Peabody Award-winning journalist said, “The launch of the Arukah video about pigs and the panelists was excellent! I now feel sorry for pigs held in such inhumane conditions. I don’t know what to do, except stop eating pigs!”

Arukah supporter Charley Turon told us that she has been vegan as long as she can remember. “I wouldn’t, couldn’t, have it any other way. Yet I fell in love and married a man who was respectful but didn’t want to go vegan, so we were a two-meal family. I love to cook, and generally he was a great sport at my starting meatless Mondays for him, and I even got to a point where he is vegan two to three times a week. While he chooses to remain a non-vegan, he watched the Arukah Animal International official launch with me, and I will tell you that in listening to Steve talk about Esther, my husband agreed that he could never eat pork again! For some, it is the little steps, and I am grateful that George took one of those steps. And the launch even for me, a longtime vegan, was enlightening. I learned so much. There were so many great minds that came together for a similar cause. Everyone has a different journey. Mine has always been easy as a vegan; however, for some, like my husband, a little education goes a long way. So, thank you for a wonderful event! We were delighted to see it.”

“Pigs And Pathogens: What’s on Your Plate? Rather, WHO’s on Your Plate?”

With your great generosity, Arukah created the three-minute “Pigs and Pathogens” to accompany our launch event. The opening scene raises many questions about the ethics of eating pigs, pig farming, and factory farming, in general. How is animal health tied to the health of our planet? How are factory farms connected to questions of ethics and environmental justice?

“Pigs and Pathogens” is about the warfare against pigs and the public health risks of animal industries, which are among the most dangerous breeding grounds of zoonotic infectious diseases and are directly linked to the production and consumption of animals. We see female pigs, who are kept endlessly pregnant, help captive in metal gestation crates, unable to turn around. Terrified, suffering pigs experience severe and unrelenting stress, and are given perilous amounts of antibiotics to ward off disease before slaughter, paving the way for antibiotic-resistant pathogens but can also provide the impetus of zoonotic virus or disease mutation that spreads from farmed animals to humans. The film presents the horrifying dystopian new pig harvesting practices in China’s Hubei Province, as well as lakes of toxic pig feces and urine in the U.S.

With heartfelt gratitude, 

Robin Dorman 

President and Executive Director 

P.S. Your support makes all the difference, and a profound one at that, in helping to create awareness about the terrible cruelty and catastrophic effects of factory farming.

Arukah means Healing, Restoring, and Repairing