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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Disrupt Dinner Service at Playa Mill Valley Over Ties to Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry

February 2, 2025

On Saturday evening, animal rights activists disrupted the dinner service at the upscale restaurant Playa Mill Valley in Marin County, asking the restaurant to cut ties with Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry due to documented animal cruelty.

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Disrupt Dinner Service at Playa Mill Valley Over Ties to Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry

February 2, 2025

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PRESS

Trial Ahead for CA Animal Activist Accused of Trespassing, Theft, Conspiracy

January 30, 2025

Public News Service

An animal activist is speaking out ahead of her trial in May - accused of trespassing, theft and conspiracy after a protest at a poultry slaughterhouse in Northern California.

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PRESS

Trial Ahead for CA Animal Activist Accused of Trespassing, Theft, Conspiracy

January 30, 2025

Public News Service

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Protest at Home of Perdue Slaughterhouse Director

January 29, 2025

Jason Arnold, Director of Operations for Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse, ignored activists’ requests for a meeting regarding documented criminal animal cruelty at the slaughterhouse

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Protest at Home of Perdue Slaughterhouse Director

January 29, 2025

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PRESS

Judge: Let special prosecutor decide if Ridglan Farms committed crimes

January 9, 2025

The Isthmus

“Petitioners have shown that there is probable cause to believe that Ridglan has committed crimes under Wisconsin’s animal cruelty laws, and the district attorney has failed to issue a complaint or commence an investigation into Ridglan’s conduct,” the ruling states. “Based on the entirety of the record, the Court grants Petitioners’ Petition to appoint a special prosecutor.”

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PRESS

Judge: Let special prosecutor decide if Ridglan Farms committed crimes

January 9, 2025

The Isthmus

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BLOG

I Might Go to Prison in 2025. I Need Your Help More Than Ever.

December 29, 2024

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BLOG

I Might Go to Prison in 2025. I Need Your Help More Than Ever.

December 29, 2024

The silver lining of repression is that it gives movements the opportunity to prove how strong they are. While the past year has been hard, I feel incredibly grateful for all of the ways the animal rights movement has grown and persevered.

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PRESS RELEASE

Animal Rights Activists Create Giant “Death for Dinner” Display Outside Oakland Safeway

December 14, 2024

Activists covered in fake blood lay down on a giant “plate” to bring attention to the violence behind serving dead animals as food during the holidays. Protestors also called on Safeway to cut ties with Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry, where undercover investigations have exposed sick and injured animals left without care.

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PRESS RELEASE

Animal Rights Activists Create Giant “Death for Dinner” Display Outside Oakland Safeway

December 14, 2024

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BLOG

Berkeley’s Measure DD Is a Win for Horses and All Animals

December 12, 2024

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BLOG

Berkeley’s Measure DD Is a Win for Horses and All Animals

December 12, 2024

“Do we have factory farms in Berkeley?” was a common response I got when collecting signatures. I explain that we want to prevent another animal gambling operation from opening up in Golden Gate Fields’ absence. Plus, Berkeley can be the first municipality to ban CAFOs and set a precedent that other places can follow. Berkeley voters understood. They signed the petition, and this November, they voted yes. Measure DD passed with 62% “YES” votes, making history for animal and environmental protection.

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PRESS

Activists Face Harsh Penalties for Exposing Cruelty

December 8, 2024

Sonoma State Star

Rosenberg said she has been openly rescuing animals from abuse and suffering since 2018, and she has helped more than 1,000 animals. This will be the first time she has faced criminal charges. “This is a political prosecution. The Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office wants to protect Perdue’s reputation and make an example of me to stop other people from rescuing animals. Unfortunately for them, it isn’t going to work,” she said.

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PRESS

Activists Face Harsh Penalties for Exposing Cruelty

December 8, 2024

Sonoma State Star

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PRESS

Opinion: Berkeley Can Lead the Way to a Factory Farm-Free Future

December 3, 2024

Berkeleyside

When more people pay attention and take action to stop the devastating impact of CAFOs on animals, the environment and humans, we can correct our misguided path and put ourselves on the right side of history.

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PRESS

Opinion: Berkeley Can Lead the Way to a Factory Farm-Free Future

December 3, 2024

Berkeleyside

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Our Top Press Hits

TOP PRESS

She Took Chickens from a Slaughterhouse. Was It a Rescue or a Crime?

October 24, 2025

The Guardian

I asked Rosenberg what outcome she was hoping for. “My ideal outcome is honestly just whatever is best for the animals,” she said. “An acquittal wouldn’t set an actual legal precedent, but it would set a social precedent, to some extent, and send an important message.”

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TOP PRESS

UC Berkeley Activist Testifies She Saved Sick Birds, Not Stole Them, in Chicken Rescue Trial

October 17, 2025

San Francisco Chronicle

Before a jury in a Sonoma County courthouse, Rosenberg testified that she believed at the time that her actions, often called “open rescue,” were “lawfully justified” to prevent what she considered “criminal animal abuse” by Petaluma Poultry, a Sonoma-based operation owned by Perdue Farms, a major poultry supplier nationwide.

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TOP PRESS

How the FBI and Big Ag Started Treating Animal Rights Activists as Bioterrorists

June 2, 2025

The Intercept

“Animal rights and environmental groups have committed more acts of terrorism than Al Qaeda,” warned an FBI agent who met with Big Ag groups.

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TOP PRESS

This California Student Could Go to Prison for Taking Four Chickens. Was It a Crime or a ‘Rescue’?

May 1, 2025

San Francisco Chronicle

Just four months after she graduates on May 17 with a bachelor’s degree in social movement strategy, the straight-A student will stand trial in a Sonoma County courtroom for her June 2023 incursion into Petaluma Poultry, a processing facility owned by agribusiness giant Perdue Farms. If convicted for taking four chickens Perdue valued at around $24, she faces up to 5½ years in prison.

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TOP PRESS

These California and Colorado Ballot Measures Are Terrifying the Meat Industry

October 10, 2024

Vox

In principle, there’s a lot of sense in capping the size of factory farms. Measure J’s proponents are betting that progressive Sonoma County, better known for its tasting rooms than its slaughterhouses, can push California — and the nation — in that direction.

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TOP PRESS

Secret Recordings Capture the Ugly Reality Inside a Denver Slaughterhouse

October 9, 2024

The Intercept

Videos shared with The Intercept prior to the report’s public release show, among other scenes, lambs with their throats slit hanging upside down and thrashing on the slaughter line; one animal with an internal organ that has been torn inside-out and left dangling behind it as it heads to slaughter; injured lambs being led to slaughter; workers laughing, spanking animals, and engaging in simulated sex acts with nearby machinery as lambs are having their throats slit; and the apparent use of so-called Judas sheep — adult sheep kept alive at the facility and used to lead the young sheep to slaughter.

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TOP PRESS

Sonoma Loves Its Farms. Activists Call Them Factories. Could a Ballot Measure Upend This County?

August 30, 2024

San Francisco Chronicle

In dimly lit indoor aisles at Weber Family Farms in Petaluma, hundreds of thousands of white chickens live out their 90 weeks of life. They fly from perch to perch. They dust bathe in the bedding. They nip at water dispensers. They lay egg after egg. And they never leave. These barns are at the heart of a bitter fight that Mike Weber and Samantha Faye are waging for the future of local farming.

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TOP PRESS

Groups Seek to Ban Large-Scale Animal Farming in Sonoma County

April 4, 2024

Los Angeles Times

Lewis Bernier, an animal rights activist supporting the initiative, said he has visited several factory farms across the country, documenting inhumane treatment, and one farm in Sonoma County stands out as having “the worst and most systemic animal cruelty that I’ve ever seen.”

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TOP PRESS

An Animal-Rights Activist and the Problem of Political Despair

March 15, 2024

The New Yorker

Instead of planning actions, many activists now spend their time litigating microaggressions and small disputes within their ranks... As a response, [DxE co-founder Wayne] Hsiung has tried to promote a maxim of "braver spaces, not safer spaces," which encourages the animal rights community to put aside their individual concerns, if possible, and do things like risk felony jail time for the cause.

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DxE's Blog

BLOG

Newcomer's Perspective

December 26, 2023

The Sonoma County Court's actions didn't stop me but, instead, spurred me to further action just as it did for many others.

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BLOG

I’m Facing over 20 Years in Prison for Rescuing Animals, But I Am Not Afraid

December 2, 2023

Whether I lose my freedom for days, weeks, months, or even years, it is worth it to give even one or two animals a chance to experience freedom for the first time in their entire lives.

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BLOG

A Baby Chicken Taught Me to Never Give Up Hope. His Name is Vincent.

October 1, 2023

To everyone who doesn’t believe in a better world, I understand. I feel your pain and I know how hard it is to keep going in a world as painful as ours. But, just a glimmer of hope saved Vincent’s life and it might just save the rest of the animals, too. So please, don’t give up.

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BLOG

This Disabled Duck is at the Center of a Felony Case. His Name is Bruce.

August 30, 2023

If you saw a little duckling on his back, paddling his legs and struggling to get back up, what would you do? Would you keep walking? Or would you help him? 

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BLOG

Exposing Petaluma Poultry

July 1, 2023

Since 2018, DxE investigators have documented routine violations of California's animal cruelty laws at Petaluma Poultry factory farms, but the authorities refuse to intervene -- so they are taking action themselves to rescue the animals.

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BLOG

A Letter to the Editor Re: "Churchill Downs to Cease Racing as It Investigates Deaths of Horses"

June 5, 2023

Your story on the shutdown of the Kentucky Derby racetrack failed to provide important context: the growing worldwide movement to abolish horseracing.

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BLOG

Free Speech under Attack in Rural America

May 23, 2023

During my time in Utah, I found people willing to have open and honest discussions. Why, then, are high-ranking members of the Church and the police attempting to stop that from happening? Could it be that egregious abuses documented by DxE at Smithfield were getting too close to those in power? When open dialogue threatens a power structure, it’s time to scrutinize that power structure.

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BLOG

Cedar the Goat Shines a Light on the Dark Reality of 4-H and FFA

May 1, 2023

I have seen firsthand the trauma these programs inflict on children and the violence they inflict on animals. It’s time we reform 4-H and FFA to no longer include programs where kids raise animals to die.

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BLOG

Our 2023 Story

March 23, 2023

We have the momentum and we cannot stop now. 2023 will bring more open rescues, more bold actions, and more trials. As we tear down the industry, we lift up animals. We show the world the violence that must be left in the past, and the beauty the future can hold.

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Our Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE

Trial Scheduled for Animal Rescuer

November 1, 2024

Zoe Rosenberg, 22, faces criminal charges for rescuing chickens from Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse in Petaluma, CA

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PRESS RELEASE

Investigators Publish Full Day of Slaughter Footage at Superior Farms, Exposing Routine Cruelty and Violence

October 29, 2024

Superior Farms is the largest industrial lamb slaughterhouse in the country, and is the subject of Ordinance 309 in Denver, an initiative on the November ballot introduced by Pro-Animal Future that would ban slaughterhouses within city limits

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PRESS RELEASE

Prosecutors Concede Evidence Doesn’t Support Felony in Animal Rescue Case

August 20, 2024

Charges to be Dismissed for Third Time in Perdue Chicken Rescue Case

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PRESS RELEASE

Food Network Chef Tyler Florence Cuts Ties with Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry, Following Repeated Protests

August 15, 2024

Animal rights activists with Direct Action Everywhere disrupted Florence at events across the country in recent months calling for the move

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Disrupt Food Network Chef Tyler Florence’s Restaurant, Over Ties to Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry

July 20, 2024

On Saturday evening, animal rights activists protested inside and outside of Miller & Lux, an upscale steakhouse in Mission Bay that is owned by celebrity chef Tyler Florence. The protesters were calling on Florence to cut ties with Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry. They marched and chanted through the restaurant, holding signs that read “Drop Petaluma Poultry” and “Stop Supporting Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry’s Criminal Animal Abuse.”

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PRESS RELEASE

Massive Barn Fire Kills Tens of Thousands of Chickens at Demler Brothers Egg Ranch

July 19, 2024

The Ramona factory farm was the site of a 2019 animal cruelty investigation by Direct Action Everywhere

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PRESS RELEASE

Judge Dismisses Multiple Felonies Against Animal Rescuer

May 13, 2024

Berkeley student in Perdue poultry case now faces 1 felony and 3 misdemeanors

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PRESS RELEASE

Felony Charges Dismissed Against Beagle Rescuers

March 8, 2024

Today, in a stunning development, the State of Wisconsin moved to dismiss charges against three animal rights activists accused of rescuing three beagles from Ridglan Farms, one of the last two remaining large breeders of dogs for vivisection in the country. Judge Mario White granted the dismissal at a hearing this morning.

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Ask Stanford to Never Again Buy Research Subjects from Abusive Dog Breeder

February 27, 2024

The demonstration highlighted the horrifying conditions in which Ridglan Farms confines thousands of beagles for experimentation... The action featured speeches from Stanford alumni and a former Stanford researcher.

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