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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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Berkeley Becomes the First US City to Ban Factory Farming

November 12, 2024

Plant Based News

Currently, there are no CAFOs in Berkeley. The last remaining farm, a horse racing facility named Golden Gate Fields, closed in June of this year following prolonged protests over animal deaths. The new ban will ensure that no CAFOs can be built in the city.

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Berkeley Becomes the First US City to Ban Factory Farming

November 12, 2024

Plant Based News

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PRESS RELEASE

Berkeley Becomes First U.S. City to Ban Factory Farms

November 12, 2024

A coalition of groups, including the Berkeley-based animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) and Compassionate Bay, led the effort to gather the signatures to get this CAFO ban on the ballot.

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PRESS RELEASE

Berkeley Becomes First U.S. City to Ban Factory Farms

November 12, 2024

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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

Trial Scheduled for Animal Rescuer

November 1, 2024

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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

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

October 29, 2024

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PRESS

Measure J & Other Ballot Measures to Ban Slaughterhouses, Explained

October 29, 2024

Sentient

“Sonoma County is an agricultural county with factory farms that have been exposed for abusing animals, violating animal cruelty laws, and polluting waterways with toxic waste — and the authorities have failed to address it,” Cassie King, Communications Lead at Direct Action Everywhere, tells Sentient. Direct Action Everywhere is an animal rights organization, and one of the lead sponsors of Measure J.

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PRESS

Measure J & Other Ballot Measures to Ban Slaughterhouses, Explained

October 29, 2024

Sentient

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PRESS

The Fate of Denver’s Last Slaughterhouse Is on the Ballot

October 23, 2024

Civil Eats

In early October, Direct Action Everywhere, a network of animal rights activists, released undercover footage captured inside Superior this summer. Video footage shows what activists call potential legal and ethical violations: one lamb that appears to be conscious after slaughter; another with a prolapsed uterus, untreated and headed to slaughter; and workers laughing, spanking animals, and simulating sex acts with machinery on the slaughter line.

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PRESS

The Fate of Denver’s Last Slaughterhouse Is on the Ballot

October 23, 2024

Civil Eats

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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

These California and Colorado Ballot Measures Are Terrifying the Meat Industry

October 10, 2024

Vox

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PRESS

Ridglan Farms Cited for New Violations as Hearing Nears

October 8, 2024

The Isthmus

One of the thousands of beagles housed in tiny cages, the inspector found, “was limping while moving through the enclosure, not bearing any weight on the right front leg.” The dog had visible puncture wounds and swelling on its leg, near the carpal joint. There was no documentation of the injury on the cage’s enclosure card, and the facility admitted that no treatment had been provided, saying the injury “probably” would have been discovered later that day.

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PRESS

Ridglan Farms Cited for New Violations as Hearing Nears

October 8, 2024

The Isthmus

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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

Whole Foods is lying to you. I was arrested for revealing the truth.

July 25, 2025

Vera supplies the nation’s largest goat milk producer, Meyenberg, and its practices are a far cry from the rigorous standards Whole Foods promises. Thousands of goats are confined in crowded pens without access to pasture; newborn babies are routinely separated from their mothers; and, outside the confinement area, lies a mass graveyard of animals who died prior to slaughter.

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BLOG

I'm Going Into Trial With No Legal Defenses. I Still Have Hope.

July 9, 2025

Judge Gnoss’s ruling is simply another disturbing reminder that our legal system values money over living, breathing beings with personalities, thoughts and feelings.

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BLOG

Nonstop Action for Animals: Here's What We Did This Quarter

July 6, 2025

From daring rescues and major investigations to powerful protests, media coverage, and critical courtroom battles, we’ve been pushing the fight for animal liberation forward. Here’s a look at what we made happen this past quarter.

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BLOG

Resistance in 2025

April 17, 2025

The resistance of 2025 might not look like the resistance of 2017. That’s okay. In fact, sociologist Doug McAdam has demonstrated that tactical innovation was critical for the continued success of the civil rights movement. As organizers introduced new tactics, movement activity (‘insurgency’) rose dramatically.

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BLOG

Perdue Just Sued DxE in an Attempt to Silence Free Speech

April 5, 2025

Perdue's legal complaint is riddled with false accusations meant to malign nonviolent activists and keep the attention off its abuse of animals.

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BLOG

Building a Grassroots Movement for Animals in California

March 6, 2025

We have already begun to develop a large, trained, and coordinated network of chapters across the state, and to create a factory farm map and resource guide that will become the go-to source for information about industrialized animal agriculture in California.

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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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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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BLOG

Believing Is the First Step to Animal Liberation

September 10, 2024

If people do not believe that they can change a situation, they will never act to do so. If we do not believe that animal liberation is possible and that we can make it happen, it never will. In fact, animal agriculture and other unjust systems rely on our hopelessness and cynicism.

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Our Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE

Animal Rights Activists March in Petaluma During Felony Animal Rescue Trial

September 20, 2025

"I believe Zoe did the right thing by taking sick animals to the vet," said Sharon Loren of Penngrove, who joined the march. "Compassion should never be a crime, but it's on trial here in Sonoma County."

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PRESS RELEASE

Felony Animal Rescue Trial Begins

September 15, 2025

Zoe Rosenberg, 23, is charged with felony conspiracy and 3 misdemeanors for rescuing chickens from Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse

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PRESS RELEASE

Animal Rights Activists Stage Large “Boat” in Creative Protest Urging Trader Joe’s to Drop Petaluma Poultry

August 30, 2025

Activists use Trader Joe’s nautical theme to urge the company to follow its moral compass and steer away from Petaluma Poultry

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Protest at Berkeley Trader Joe's Over Purchase of Chickens from Perdue's Petaluma Poultry

August 16, 2025

Dozens of activists with the animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) protested outside the Trader Joe's store at 1885 University Avenue in Berkeley, after an Alameda County judge partially denied Trader Joe's requested temporary restraining order against DxE on Tuesday.

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Protest at Homes of Perdue Executives, After Court Denies Temporary Restraining Order

July 26, 2025

Around thirty animal rights activists with Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) held a peaceful protest outside the home of Scott Fitzpatrick, the Live Production Manager for Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry, after Sonoma County Judge Patrick Broderick denied Fitzpatrick’s application for a temporary restraining order on Friday, citing “insufficient evidence.”

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PRESS RELEASE

Second Perdue Foods Executive Sues Animal Rights Group to Stop Public Protests

July 23, 2025

Scott Fitzpatrick, Live Production Manager for national poultry giant Perdue Foods, filed a lawsuit Tuesday to stop public protests by Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) over documented animal cruelty.

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PRESS RELEASE

Activist Charged with Felony Vandalism for Supergluing Hand to Trader Joe's Fridge Protesting Animal Cruelty

July 3, 2025

Ani Kandada superglued down inside Trader Joe's original store in Pasadena asking the retailer to stop selling chickens from Perdue's Petaluma Poultry, just hours after another animal rights activist was arrested for supergluing her hand inside Trader Joe's Headquarters in Monrovia, CA.

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PRESS RELEASE

Activist Arrested After Supergluing Herself at Trader Joe's Headquarters, as Tensions Rise Over Controversial Chicken Supplier

July 3, 2025

Carla Cabral remained superglued to the desk from approximately 10AM to approximately 11AM, while she demanded a meeting with company executives about documented animal cruelty at Trader Joe's chicken supplier, Petaluma Poultry, which is a subsidiary of national agribusiness giant Perdue Foods.

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PRESS RELEASE

VIDEO: Animal Activists Disrupt CA Poultry Federation Board Meeting, Present Award for "Biggest Animal Abuser"

June 10, 2025

Animal rights activists with DxE disrupted multiple events at the Summer Board Meeting of the California Poultry Federation, a trade association representing commercial chicken and turkey producers across the state. Among CPF's twenty board members are three executives from Petaluma Poultry, the California subsidiary of national poultry giant Perdue Foods, where DxE investigators have documented widespread violations of animal cruelty laws since 2018.

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