News

Breaking news and publications from Direct Action Everywhere.

Media inquiry? Please email press@dxe.io.

Featured

All News

BLOG

Ten Things You Need to Know About the Company Trying to Put Me in Prison

April 29, 2024

Read More

BLOG

Ten Things You Need to Know About the Company Trying to Put Me in Prison

April 29, 2024

My findings show that “No Antibiotics Ever” just means that the chickens are still experiencing severe infection but they aren’t receiving the medication they desperately need. In one barn at a Petaluma Poultry factory farm in Santa Rosa, more than 10% of the chickens died by the time they reached 5 weeks. That is more than double the accepted industry mortality rate.

Read More

PRESS

ASUC Passes Right to Rescue Resolution as Student Animal Rights Activist Awaits Trial

April 29, 2024

Daily Californian

“The Associated Students of the University of California has recognized that nonhuman animals are sentient beings,” the resolution reads. “The act of investigating conditions of commercial animal operations and exposing abuses to the public and law enforcement is in the interests of both those individual animals and the public that cares about them.”

Read More

PRESS

ASUC Passes Right to Rescue Resolution as Student Animal Rights Activist Awaits Trial

April 29, 2024

Daily Californian

Read More

PRESS

Berkeley Law’s Animal Legal Defense Fund Is Mobilizing Students for Animal Rights

April 19, 2024

Daily Californian

“I would say animal rights are the moral blindspot of our generation,” [ALDF co-director Taj] Uppal said. “Once we recognize that we can say, ‘Okay, this entire system is harmful — let’s transition to something that’s better and more ethical.’ ”

Read More

PRESS

Berkeley Law’s Animal Legal Defense Fund Is Mobilizing Students for Animal Rights

April 19, 2024

Daily Californian

Read More

PRESS

Judge Will Weigh Whether to Appoint a Special Prosecutor for Ridglan Farms

April 18, 2024

Isthmus

The petition from [Wayne] Hsiung and Dane4Dogs, later amended to include more supporting testimonials from veterinarians and animal welfare groups, argues that the appointment of a special prosecutor is warranted “because of Ridglan Farms’ ongoing, flagrant criminal conduct; because the welfare of thousands of beagle victims depends upon it; and because the interests of justice and the rule of law require that no one, even a corporation in a powerful industry, is above the law.”

Read More

PRESS

Judge Will Weigh Whether to Appoint a Special Prosecutor for Ridglan Farms

April 18, 2024

Isthmus

Read More

PRESS

Letter to the Editor: Rescuing Animals

April 17, 2024

Press Democrat

When I rescued two neglected ducks from the Reichardt factory farm in Petaluma last year, I was arrested on felonies and called a terrorist. When Santa Rosa firefighters rescued ducklings from a storm drain, they were celebrated (“Santa Rosa firefighters save ducklings from storm drain,” pressdemocrat.com).

Read More

PRESS

Letter to the Editor: Rescuing Animals

April 17, 2024

Press Democrat

Read More

PRESS

Ridglan Farms Critics Want Their Day in Court

April 4, 2024

Isthmus

Madison-based nonprofit Dane4Dogs and [former defendant] Wayne Hsiung... filed a petition to appoint a special prosecutor to charge the facility, Ridglan Farms, for what they said were violations of Wisconsin laws against animal abuse. “The facts presented in this petition…would unquestionably be criminal animal abuse if undertaken by an ordinary citizen,” reads the petition. “The question facing this court is whether, after years of governmental inaction, corporations also will be held accountable to the law.”

Read More

PRESS

Ridglan Farms Critics Want Their Day in Court

April 4, 2024

Isthmus

Read More

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.”

Read More

TOP PRESS

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

April 4, 2024

Los Angeles Times

Read More

PRESS

‘Groundbreaking’ Vote to Ban Factory Farming to Be Held in U.S. County

March 28, 2024

Plant Based News

“Sonoma County is a beautiful place with strong values around protecting animals and the environment. Unfortunately, dozens of factory farms are operating counter to the public’s values,” DxE communications lead Cassie King told Plant Based News (PBN). “Now, ordinary people are uniting and utilizing a form of direct democracy to end factory farming in Sonoma County.”

Read More

PRESS

‘Groundbreaking’ Vote to Ban Factory Farming to Be Held in U.S. County

March 28, 2024

Plant Based News

Read More

PRESS

Measure Seeking to Limit Size of Sonoma County Livestock and Poultry Farms Qualifies for Ballot

March 27, 2024

Press Democrat

“Our key volunteers are all local,” [supporter Kristina] Garfinkel said. “As a local myself, this is such an important issue. I’m from Santa Rosa. I drive by these CAFOs every day and smell the air. We do have support from other regional partners. CAFOs are a ubiquitous problem, so of course it will draw interest from other groups.”

Read More

PRESS

Measure Seeking to Limit Size of Sonoma County Livestock and Poultry Farms Qualifies for Ballot

March 27, 2024

Press Democrat

Read More

Our Top Press Hits

TOP PRESS

California Activist Gets Jail Time for Taking Chickens from Perdue Farms Plant

December 4, 2025

The Associated Press

Zoe Rosenberg, 23, did not deny taking the animals from Petaluma Poultry but argued she wasn’t breaking the law because she was rescuing the birds from a cruel situation.

Read More

TOP PRESS

UC Berkeley Animal Rights Activist to Serve Jail Time After ‘Chicken Rescue’ Conviction

December 3, 2025

San Francisco Chronicle

“They’re denying that any of this suffering is happening,” she said. “We have been calling on the California Attorney General to take action, because the Sonoma County District Attorney’s office has made it abundantly clear that they do not care about these animals whatsoever.” Her supporters cheered and yelled out promises to not give up defending animals.

Read More

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.”

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.”

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

TOP PRESS

How the Farm Industry Spied on Animal Rights Activists and Pushed the FBI to Treat Them as Bioterrorists

June 3, 2025

Wired Magazine

Hundreds of emails and internal documents reviewed by WIRED reveal top lobbyists and representatives of America’s agricultural industry led a persistent and often covert campaign to surveil, discredit, and suppress animal rights organizations for nearly a decade, while relying on corporate spies to infiltrate meetings and functionally serve as an informant for the FBI.

Read More

DxE's Blog

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

BLOG

Animal Rescuer Zoe Rosenberg Read This Powerful Statement at Her Sentencing Hearing

December 4, 2025

This is the statement defendant Zoe Rosenberg read in court at her sentencing hearing on Dec. 3, 2025, before she was sentenced to 90 days in jail for rescuing Poppy, Aster, Ivy, and Azalea from Perdue's Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse.

Read More

BLOG

Perdue Rescue Trial Court Watch - Week 7: Oct 27th-29th 2025

October 27, 2025

Updates and summaries from Week 7 of the Perdue Rescue Trial

Read More

BLOG

Perdue Rescue Trial Court Watch - Week 6: Oct 20th-24th, 2025

October 20, 2025

Updates and summaries from Week 6 of the Perdue Rescue Trial

Read More

BLOG

Perdue Rescue Trial Court Watch - Week 5: Oct 13th-17th, 2025

October 13, 2025

Updates and summaries from Week 5 of the Perdue Rescue Trial

Read More

BLOG

Perdue Rescue Trial Court Watch - Week 4: Oct 6th-10th, 2025

October 6, 2025

Updates and summaries from Week 4 of the Perdue Rescue Trial

Read More

BLOG

Perdue Rescue Trial Court Watch - Week 3: Sept 29th-Oct 3rd, 2025

September 29, 2025

Updates and summaries from Week 3 of the Perdue Rescue Trial

Read More

Our Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE

“I COVER UP ANIMAL CRUELTY!” Protesters Erect Giant Head of Utah AG Sean Reyes Ahead of Prominent “Right to Rescue” Trial

September 9, 2022

"This is really about inverting the truth: making peaceful activists look dangerous, when the real danger is Smithfield and other companies that systematically torture millions of innocent sentient beings while destroying our environment."

Read More

PRESS RELEASE

Bills-Rams Game Disrupted as Animal Activists Run on Field, Deploy Smoke Flares Ahead of Piglet Rescuer Trial

September 8, 2022

Emek Echo and Katia Shokrai ran across the field holding up red smoke flares and wearing shirts with “RIGHTTORESCUE.COM” text.

Read More

PRESS RELEASE

Utah Judge Changes Venue in Piglet Rescuers’ Trial, After Canvassers Face Death Threats

August 20, 2022

Judge Wilcox repeatedly expressed concerns about advocates potentially intimidating local residents. This is contrary to recent footage and a lawsuit in which it is canvassers supporting Hsiung and Picklesimer who faced death threats and were forced to stop talking to sidewalk pedestrians.

Read More

PRESS RELEASE

SF Giants MLB Game DISRUPTED By Animal Activists in YODA and DARTH VADER Costumes

July 31, 2022

Read More

PRESS RELEASE

Supporters at “Vigil at Yosemiteville Horror” Event to Comfort Pigs Outside Slaughterhouse

July 14, 2022

Animal rights advocates gathered to mark the two-year anniversary of the release of Unseen, an undercover mini-documentary exposing extreme cruelty inside this facility, and to bear witness and spread compassion for its victims.

Read More

PRESS RELEASE

Joey Chestnut HEADLOCKS Animal Activist in Darth Vader Costume During Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest

July 4, 2022

Investigators with same animal rights group face felony trial in September after rescuing piglets from a Smithfield Foods factory pig farm

Read More

PRESS RELEASE

After Judge Rules to Exclude Animal Cruelty Evidence In Trial, Bay Area Felony Defendants March with Photos from Farm

June 18, 2022

Over 70 activists, including two Bay Area residents facing felony charges for rescuing piglets from a Smithfield factory farm in Milford, Utah, marched through the streets of San Francisco Saturday.

Read More

PRESS RELEASE

Former Baywatch star enters “Not Guilty” plea in Foster Farms chicken rescue case

June 16, 2022

Alexandra Paul and Alicia Santurio, two members of Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), have been charged with theft in conjunction with a dramatic rescue of two chickens from a Foster Farms slaughter truck.

Read More

PRESS RELEASE

Utah Capitol Protest Targets Attorney General After Judge Gags Evidence of Smithfield Foods’ Cruelty, Disease

May 23, 2022

Two defendants face years in prison after removing sick piglets from the largest factory pig farm in the U.S.

Read More