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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

Felony Charges Dismissed Against Beagle Rescuers

March 8, 2024

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PRESS

A Crime of Compassion?

March 7, 2024

Isthmus

According to the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project, “DxE documented dogs crammed into small cages, often alone, with no access to the outdoors; apparent continuous 24-hour lighting; noxious air and feces building up beneath the cages; dogs with red and swollen feet from standing on wire cage floors; and extreme psychological torment. The activists describe the conditions as a ‘factory farm for dogs.’ ”

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PRESS

A Crime of Compassion?

March 7, 2024

Isthmus

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PRESS

Sustainability? Don’t Sustain What We Do to Animals — End It

March 6, 2024

Pathways

Focusing only on the environment is a mistake. We need a different relationship with animals. As "Earthlings" so powerfully states, "We must learn empathy. We must learn to see into the eyes of an animal and feel that their life has value because they are alive."

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PRESS

Sustainability? Don’t Sustain What We Do to Animals — End It

March 6, 2024

Pathways

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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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PRESS RELEASE

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

February 27, 2024

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PRESS

Beagles Are Bred by the Thousands on Factory Farms, and It’s Perfectly Legal

February 14, 2024

Sentient Media

At Ridglan, [rescuer Eva] Hamer recalls, beagles were found confined not unlike chickens in the egg industry. “The size to body ratio is similar to a chicken farm,” she says, describing the size of the cages... Another similarity to factory farms, she adds, “is the smell, you can smell them from a mile away.” Yet, there was one thing quite different, even “bizarre,” Hamer adds: “Factory farms tend to be quiet at night. At the dog farm, everyone is howling, thousands of dogs, howling.”

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PRESS

Beagles Are Bred by the Thousands on Factory Farms, and It’s Perfectly Legal

February 14, 2024

Sentient Media

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PRESS

Letter to the Editor: Controversial Dog Rescue in Wisconsin Reveals Cruel UI Experiments

January 31, 2024

Daily Illini

We should ask ourselves what it means that the people who rescued the animal victims are on trial while the breeders and researchers abusing and killing them are let off with warnings at worst. It means that law enforcement agencies are actively upholding a system of violence.

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PRESS

Letter to the Editor: Controversial Dog Rescue in Wisconsin Reveals Cruel UI Experiments

January 31, 2024

Daily Illini

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TOP PRESS

A California Town Will Vote on Banning Factory Farms. What Does That Mean for the Rest of the US?

January 30, 2024

The Guardian

If successful in Berkeley, a liberal San Francisco Bay Area town that’s often been at the forefront of US environmental policy, the method can be replicated elsewhere, [activists] say. “We can pave the path to abolishing factory farming,” said Cassie King, an organizer with Direct Action Everywhere, one of the groups that pushed for the measure.

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TOP PRESS

A California Town Will Vote on Banning Factory Farms. What Does That Mean for the Rest of the US?

January 30, 2024

The Guardian

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PRESS

An Emerging Food Fight in California

January 29, 2024

Politico

Direct Action Everywhere and other organizations hoped for statewide action with a bill in 2022 but it never got out of committee. Their argument, then as now in Sonoma County, is that concentrated animal feeding operations are inhumane, bad for the environment and a potential threat to public health.

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PRESS

An Emerging Food Fight in California

January 29, 2024

Politico

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Evoke “Chicken Run” in Retelling of Real-Life Rescues

January 27, 2024

Playing with characters and plot elements from the new film Chicken Run 2: Dawn of the Nugget, the protest featured “Zoe Rosenbird” coming to the rescue of sick, injured chickens and transforming the operation that tortured them into an animal sanctuary.

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Evoke “Chicken Run” in Retelling of Real-Life Rescues

January 27, 2024

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Our Top Press Hits

TOP PRESS

She Said She Was Rescuing Chickens. A Jury Convicted Her of Conspiracy.

October 29, 2025

The New York Times

The four chickens she took with her — whom she named Poppy, Ivy, Aster and Azalea — are alive at a sanctuary for rescued farm animals, she said. “I will not apologize for taking sick, neglected animals to get medical care,” Ms. Rosenberg said in a statement. “When we see cruelty and violence, we can choose to ignore it or to intervene and try to make the world a better place.”

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TOP PRESS

UC Berkeley Animal Rights Activist Found Guilty in ‘Chicken Rescue’ Trial

October 29, 2025

San Francisco Chronicle

But even if the appellate court doesn’t reverse Rosenberg’s conviction, she likely won’t regret having risked prison time to force a trial. Her trial, by some measures, was still a success. Several national publications — including The New York Times and the Associated Press — covered it, raising awareness of DxE’s goal to eradicate America’s factory-farming industry by 2040.

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TOP PRESS

California Woman on Trial for Taking Chickens from Perdue Farms' Plant Says She Was Rescuing Them

October 28, 2025

The Associated Press

A California animal rights activist on trial for taking four chickens from one of Perdue Farms’ major poultry plants said Tuesday that she was rescuing Poppy, Ivy, Aster, and Azalea from abuse while prosecutors say she broke the law.

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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

Berkeley Grad’s Chicken ‘Rescue’ Trial Begins in Sonoma County with Question of Intent vs. Crime

October 6, 2025

San Francisco Chronicle

Though Rosenberg is technically the one on trial, they plan to force a deep review of the often-unsavory practices occurring at meat-processing facilities across the country.

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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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DxE's Blog

BLOG

Two cows freed themselves, but now they’re at risk of slaughter again.

August 3, 2022

Let this story be a reminder that animals do fight for their freedom and that they participate in their own liberation.

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BLOG

On the Anniversary of Unseen, We Came to Bear Witness

July 21, 2022

Activists gathered for a vigil exactly two years after the release of Unseen, a documentary that exposed the horrors inside Yosemite Foods, a slaughterhouse in Stockton, California, that kills 2,000 pigs every day.

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BLOG

What I learned from saving Chester – then watching him die

July 19, 2022

DxE co-founder Wayne Hsiung recently shared the story of a very sick pig who was rescued from Farmer John. This is an excerpt from his Substack blog, The Simple Heart.

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BLOG

Why I Disrupted Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest

July 5, 2022

Our signs read “Expose Smithfield’s Deathstar” referring to Smithfield’s Circle Four Farms in Milford, Utah, the largest pig farm in the country. While many criticized the tackiness and absurdity of the action, it garnered much needed media attention.

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BLOG

The largest pig slaughterhouse in California is shutting down.

July 2, 2022

Here's what this could mean.

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BLOG

Activists display massive 100 foot banner on overpass calling on Golden Gate Fields to shut down

June 25, 2022

The protest occurred after yet another horse was killed at the horse racing track that spans Berkeley and Albany.

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BLOG

DxE activists talk with Senator Cory Booker about upcoming Smithfield trial

June 25, 2022

Senator Booker spoke about the need for nonviolent direct action and for "not being spectators in democracy!"

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BLOG

As Farmer John Slaughterhouse Closes, Our Work Must Continue

June 14, 2022

As happy as I am to see Smithfield leave California, they should not be allowed to simply cut and run. They must adequately compensate their workers, provide appropriate care for their pigs, and clean up the damage done to the surrounding community and to the L.A. river.

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BLOG

Tulare County Dairy Farms Are Poisoning Latino Communities

May 20, 2022

Over the last few decades, the Central Valley of California has become plagued by the crisis of dirty drinking water contaminated with nitrates. Latino communities have been disproportionately affected. In the heart of the valley lies Tulare County, a majority Latino district and the largest dairy producing county in the nation.

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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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