A new investigation by Animal Equality UK has prompted a criminal investigation after revealing a litany of horrors including piglets being killed with a hammer or slammed on concrete floors and mother pigs with severe uterine prolapses being forced to walk before being shot.

Campaigners are standing at the precipice of what they believe will be a landmark first legal action against any government. We caught up with Humane Being and the Scrap campaign who, together with co-claimant veterinarian Dr Alice Borough and with the help of high-profile human rights lawyer Michael Mansfield QC, have just issued a ‘last chance’ warning prior to launching a case that will finally hold to account the UK Government for the grave threat posed by factory farming.

The discussion around the consumption of animal flesh and the climate has rather stepped up over the past week. From Joe Biden and Kwasi Kwarteng to Epicurious, we analyse several of the top stories highlighting the serious problem of animal agriculture and the environment.

Providing care to some animals as a vegan can be fraught with ethical compromises. One of the biggest issues that is often used to deride veganism for being hypocritical is whether or not it is cruel to feed dogs on a plant-based diet. Caregiver to two very healthy dogs, Surge contributor Claire Hamlett talks us through her personal journey navigating this sensitive subject.

In yet another sign that the UK dairy industry is in serious trouble, new figures out this week have revealed a staggering drop in sales of milk and cream to the EU, by far our largest export market. Is this really just teething troubles, as Boris Johnson calls them, or is it another nail in the coffin of cow exploitation?

According to a new study by researchers at Tel Aviv University, humans were hypercarnivores that hunted megafauna for around two million years. Only as large animals like mammoths and aurochs began to die out towards the end of the Stone Age, with humans as possible culprits, were our ancestors forced to diversify their diets to include more plants. That may be, but what relevance does it have today?

A new investigation by Animal Justice Project has been released showing abuse of day-old dairy calves at the hands of a leading UK ‘calf trader’ with links to major supermarkets, but also their fate at a slaughterhouse in Chester. With bans in place to prevent calf shootings on farms, has this blown the lid off the dairy industry’s new ‘dirty secret’?

One of the criticisms of a vegan or vegetarian diet you see cropping up, again and again, is that it is actually responsible for large amounts of deforestation because it encourages people to consume more food products made from soy. Drink soy milk? Eat tofu or soy-based meat substitutes? Then is the destruction of the Amazon really on your hands?!

The bodies of 55,000 pigs including breeding sows and piglets are still being recovered three weeks after the fire at the Alt Tellin farm and biogas facility in northeastern Germany, with ensuing protests against plans to rebuild. But even before the tragedy of March 30, the site had long been the subject of legal controversies and demonstrations from both local interest groups and animal protection activists.

Animal protection law firm Advocates for Advocates is leading the way once again in the fight against the UK government’s controversial anti-protest bill, gathering together more than 30 animal justice groups including Surge in signing an open letter voicing our collective opposition. Here’s everything you need to know.

For our latest grassroots focus, we take a closer look at the compelling DONTWATCH.ORG campaign launched earlier this year. Based on a short seven-minute video, the campaign uses reverse psychology and a strong guerilla activism element to compel people to engage with the shocking truth of how we exploit animals.

We spoke to Carl Valentin, Denmark’s first ever proudly vegan MP, about his political career, championing animal rights and environmentalism in the Danish political landscape, and how to ensure that the ban on mink farming for fur stays beyond Covid-19.