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How Trader Joe’s Got Caught Up in a Farmgirl TikTok Beef

February 3, 2025

The San Francisco Standard

Trader Joe’s is facing pressure to drop a North Bay chicken supplier after a social media post documenting its alleged abuses went viral with the help of celebrities and food influencers.

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PRESS

How Trader Joe’s Got Caught Up in a Farmgirl TikTok Beef

February 3, 2025

The San Francisco Standard

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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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Our Top Press Hits

TOP PRESS

You’re More Likely to Go to Prison for Exposing Animal Cruelty Than for Committing It

November 9, 2023

Vox

Hsiung’s trial and conviction show the extraordinary difficulty of trying to discuss what happens to animals on factory farms in a legal system that only sees them as property. At both factory farms in this case, DxE had documented gruesome conditions prior to their open rescue actions and had submitted animal cruelty complaints to authorities (though no action was taken by legal officials, King said). Yet it was the activists, not the farm owners, who were criminally charged and had to explain themselves to a jury.

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TOP PRESS

This Is the Ops Manual for the Most Tech-Savvy Animal Liberation Group in the US

November 8, 2023

Wired

For the first time, guerrilla animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere reveals a guide to its investigative tactics and toolkit, from spy cams to night vision and drones. Bernier says that DxE decided to publicly release its guide, even in the wake of Hsiung’s conviction, to help activists who are already committed to carrying out covert investigations do their work more safely and effectively.

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TOP PRESS

Animal Rights Activist Convicted of Felony for Rescuing Sick Chickens

November 4, 2023

The Intercept

Hsiung’s defense was in many ways stymied from the jump. The judge barred almost all photo and video evidence of animal cruelty from the trial, as has been the case in a number of previous DxE trials. As I’ve previously noted, the decision to disallow such evidence is usually made to benefit a defendant — not showing gruesome images of a murder victim, for example. Such logic has been flipped in DxE cases, including Hsiung’s most recent, to the benefit of powerful agribusiness.

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TOP PRESS

Activists Call It Rescue. Farms Call It Stealing. What Is ‘Open Rescue’?

August 7, 2023

National Geographic

These crusaders are part of the so-called “open rescue” movement, in which animal rights activists brazenly take animals from factory farm operations. Direct Action Everywhere—better known as DxE—is at the forefront of this movement in the United States...

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TOP PRESS

Dangerous Pathogens and Cruelty Law Violations at Perdue Subsidiary, Animal Rights Report Alleges

June 13, 2023

The Intercept

In conjunction with the release of an undercover investigation on the factory farm, the group DxE mounted an “open rescue” of birds from a slaughterhouse.

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TOP PRESS

Opinion: Utah Undermined the Jury System to Shield Big Ag from Scrutiny

March 30, 2023

Salt Lake Tribune

If government agencies were taking these [investigative] reports seriously and protecting animals from cruelty, there would be no need for bills like this. But certain Utah legislators have decided that the real problem with sick, suffering animals is the potential for negative publicity for the industry and so it is the industry, not the animals, that need protection.

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TOP PRESS

The Fight Against Factory Farming Is Winning Criminal Trials

March 21, 2023

Vox

DxE’s theory — that when you show a jury of ordinary citizens what happens to animals in the meat industry, they’ll agree that they deserve rescue — turned out to be true, challenging the idea that the animal rights agenda is radical or unpopular.

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TOP PRESS

Former TV Star, Now a Chicken ‘Rescuer,’ Found Not Guilty of Foster Farms Theft

March 20, 2023

LA Times

“This is a victory for [the chickens] Ethan, Jax, and all other living beings subjected to abuse by corporations like Foster Farms,” Santurio said in a news release from Direct Action Everywhere. “I have so much love for the chickens in my family and I want all animals to experience that safety and respect.”

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TOP PRESS

‘Baywatch’s’ Alexandra Paul on Trial; Video Shows ‘Open Rescue’ of Foster Farms Chickens

March 9, 2023

LA Times

“We published this video within an hour with both my name and Alicia Santurio’s name attached to it because we believe what we’re doing is legal and morally right,” Paul said in an interview with The Times.

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DxE's Blog

BLOG

Exposing Big Ag with Factory Farm Watch

February 19, 2026

Factory Farm Watch is more than a map. It is a launchpad for statewide action to end factory farming.

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BLOG

ALC India Was a Huge Success!

February 6, 2026

A summary of the first annual Animal Liberation Conference in India, co-hosted by DxE and Indore Animal Liberation

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BLOG

An Open Letter to My Judge

January 4, 2026

I think the public has made it resoundingly clear that they feel Perdue should be prosecuted for its crimes. I hope you'll take that into consideration and use your power as a judge to do some good for these animals. 

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BLOG

Zoe's Reflections on Animal Rising's Beagle Rescue Trial Verdict

December 18, 2025

No prosecution, conviction, or sentence, will ever stop a movement driven by compassion and care.

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BLOG

An Open Letter to Attorney General Rob Bonta

December 17, 2025

I write to you from this jail cell on behalf of the animals, to beg for your assistance and intervention. This cruelty and suffering has gone on far too long.

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BLOG

Zoe's Reflections from Jail on the Role of Repression

December 16, 2025

To some, my being here may look like losing. I don’t see it that way. I see it as a sign that we have come to be a real threat to companies like Perdue that make billions of dollars off the mistreatment of animals.

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BLOG

An Update from Zoe After Her First Days in Jail

December 15, 2025

Since my incarceration, lives have continued to be saved. On my first day in jail, two chickens were rescued from a slaughterhouse in Stockton, California. They've been named Josephine and Jasmine.

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BLOG

An Update from Zoe in Jail

December 11, 2025

My cell is small, but I can stand up and take a few steps. In many parts of the US, animals can legally be housed in such tight confinement that they can't even spread their limbs or turn around.

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BLOG

My Impending Incarceration and the Urgency of Animal Rescue

December 10, 2025

My prosecutors are hoping my jail sentence will scare you. They’re hoping you’ll consider rescuing an animal and then think of me and change your mind. No. Think of me if you will, but then do it.

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Our Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE

Marin Grocer Good Earth Cuts Ties with Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry Amidst Animal Cruelty Concerns

March 11, 2026

Controversial chicken producer Petaluma Poultry has lost another customer following an investigation by animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), which exposed animal neglect and cruelty at the company’s factory farms and slaughterhouse in Sonoma County.

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PRESS RELEASE

VIDEO: Activists Protest Cruelty in CA Dairy Industry with Ten-Foot-Tall Milk Carton

March 1, 2026

The ten-foot milk carton showed a photo of a calf with the word "Missing" to underscore how the dairy industry routinely separates babies from their mothers on the day they are born.

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PRESS RELEASE

VIDEO: Dozens Hold Vigil at CA’s Largest Calf-Raising Factory Farm, Following Exposé of Calf Abuse

February 21, 2026

Drone footage published this week at FactoryFarmWatch.org shows calves being thrown to the ground, dragged and shot in the head at Grimmius Cattle Company

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PRESS RELEASE

Map of California Factory Farms Exposes Hidden Supply Chains Behind “Humane” Labels

February 17, 2026

The first-of-its-kind map at FactoryFarmWatch.org is the most comprehensive single source of information on CA's 1300+ industrial animal farms

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PRESS RELEASE

Hours After Completing House Arrest, Activist Negotiates Rescue of Chicken from Slaughter

February 11, 2026

After completing both phases of her court-ordered detention for rescuing four birds from Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse, animal rights activist Zoe Rosenberg’s first course of action was to travel to a chicken slaughterhouse in Stockton.

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PRESS RELEASE

Judge Throws Out Perdue’s Claims in Lawsuit Against Animal Activists

February 6, 2026

Sonoma County Judge Jane Gaskell struck both causes of action brought by the national poultry giant Perdue Foods in a lawsuit against Direct Action Everywhere (DxE). Judge Gaskell also struck these causes of action for Perdue executive Scott Fitzpatrick. Perdue is now removed from the case and only two causes of action remain for Fitzpatrick.

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PRESS RELEASE

VIDEO: Activists Rally at UC Berkeley Demanding a Pardon for Student Animal Rescuer

January 23, 2026

UC Berkeley students, alumni, and local residents held a “Free Zoe” rally and march on the UC Berkeley campus on Friday, demanding the pardon of animal rights activist Zoe Rosenberg, who is currently on house arrest.

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PRESS RELEASE

Judge Denies Trader Joe's Motion for Contempt Against Animal Rights Activists

January 12, 2026

He also denied Trader Joe’s request to restrict protesters’ use of amplified sound on public property outside their stores, writing, “prohibition on the use of sound amplification devices is an invalid infringement upon Defendants’ free speech rights.”

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PRESS RELEASE

Animal Rescuer to Begin House Arrest Tomorrow Following Solitary Confinement in Jail

January 12, 2026

Zoe Rosenberg will check in at the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office tomorrow and get an ankle monitor put on before beginning her home detention

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