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PRESS

Conviction of Leading Animal Activist Could Ignite a Populist Revolution

November 23, 2023

Countercurrents

The conviction of Hsuing could be a flashpoint in this “next frontier.” Because it shows just how broken the legal system is, his story could help advance the development of a grassroots movement to liberate nonhuman animals. It also presents us with a choice: Live in a system where the government ignores animal cruelty laws—or save the animals those laws were meant to protect.

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PRESS

Conviction of Leading Animal Activist Could Ignite a Populist Revolution

November 23, 2023

Countercurrents

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PRESS

The Turkey Pardon Is a Perfect Emblem of Our Very Dumb Politics

November 22, 2023

The New Republic

Virtually all turkeys raised in the United States come from crowded concentrated feeding operations—CAFOs, or factory farms. Investigations by animal rights groups like Direct Action Everywhere, or DxE, have shown that the same farms that provide the well-groomed, handsome birds for White House events raise the rest of their animals in hellish conditions.

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PRESS

The Turkey Pardon Is a Perfect Emblem of Our Very Dumb Politics

November 22, 2023

The New Republic

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PRESS

Hero for Rescuing a Dog, But Facing Prison for Rescuing Birds

November 22, 2023

Common Dreams

I hate seeing Wayne go through this. I’m tired of the legal maneuverings by those with power to maintain a world that hurts the most vulnerable.

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PRESS

Hero for Rescuing a Dog, But Facing Prison for Rescuing Birds

November 22, 2023

Common Dreams

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PRESS

An Animal Activist Was Found Guilty After Rescuing Farmed Animals – Here’s Why He Did It

November 16, 2023

Plant-Based News

“Open rescue is one of the most powerful tools that we have to challenge animal cruelty," [said animal rescuer Zoe Rosenberg]. “When you look into a factory farm and you see thousands of animals suffering, it’s so easy to desensitize yourself and get lost in the numbers and the immeasurable suffering. But when you identify an individual and connect with them, it’s life changing. Every single one of those animals in those facilities is an individual.”

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PRESS

An Animal Activist Was Found Guilty After Rescuing Farmed Animals – Here’s Why He Did It

November 16, 2023

Plant-Based News

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PRESS

Animal Rights Defender Wayne Hsiung Convicted of Felony for Rescuing Factory Farm Animals

November 13, 2023

Democracy Now!

“If you or I tortured an individual dog, we would clearly be subject to the criminal laws of the state of California. Yet, when a factory farm does this on massive scale, on a scale a million times larger than an individual person abusing a single animal, it’s seen as industry standard, and therefore completely immune from prosecution.”

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PRESS

Animal Rights Defender Wayne Hsiung Convicted of Felony for Rescuing Factory Farm Animals

November 13, 2023

Democracy Now!

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PRESS

Commentary: Farm Bureau Tries to Stifle Citizen-Led Initiative

November 10, 2023

Petaluma Argus Courier

We can work together to start the transition away from these destructive factory farms and use our collective power to build a better world.

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PRESS

Commentary: Farm Bureau Tries to Stifle Citizen-Led Initiative

November 10, 2023

Petaluma Argus Courier

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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

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

November 9, 2023

Vox

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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

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

November 8, 2023

Wired

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PRESS

Factory Farms in Berkeley? Not If Voters Pass This Ballot Measure in 2024

November 6, 2023

Berkeleyside

The proposed ordinance states, “CAFOs are a leading cause of environmental destruction, pose grave risks to public health, abuse and kill nonhuman animals, and often create dangerous and exploitative conditions for workers.”

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PRESS

Factory Farms in Berkeley? Not If Voters Pass This Ballot Measure in 2024

November 6, 2023

Berkeleyside

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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

DxE at the Animal and Vegan Advocacy Summit

November 24, 2022

Back in October, DxE's Lead Organizer Almira Tanner spoke at the inaugural AVA Summit. Check out her talk: Building a Mass Movement for Animals.

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BLOG

Three Lessons from the Smithfield Trial

November 7, 2022

Do your homework, get feedback, and find the simple story.

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BLOG

Social justice organizations unite to fight devastating ruling on California’s anti-SLAPP statute

September 20, 2022

Today, a coalition of advocacy groups filed an amicus letter to the California Supreme Court in support of this case, written by the First Amendment Coalition and signed by Greenpeace USA, ACLU of Northern California, Amazon Watch, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, and many more.

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BLOG

Rise Up, Berkeley

September 19, 2022

Why is it that 60 years after the Freedom of Speech Movement, we can’t rally more than 200 people to fight for the future of our planet? Why is it that when we’re being faced with injustices like racism, fascism, worker abuse, animal abuse, income inequality, loss of reproductive rights and environmental destruction, one of the most progressive student bodies in the world barely rises up?

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BLOG

The History and Future of Rose’s Law: Animal Bill of Rights

September 18, 2022

Rose was the sole survivor of all the birds at McCoy’s that day, and amid the tragedy that occurred for the others, Rose’s story offered a glimmer of hope. The fact that her rescue was permitted was proof that they all deserved to be rescued, that even the police knew rescuing them was the right thing to do.

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BLOG

We're Driving Animals Mad

September 10, 2022

The systems we have designed for animals are mentally abusive from the very beginning.

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BLOG

DxE Wins Motion for New Jury and Trial Location

August 23, 2022

The #SmithfieldTrial is moving to Washington County, Utah because the judge agreed it would be a challenge to find an impartial jury in Beaver County.

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BLOG

Calling Foul on Culling Waterfowl

August 16, 2022

Despite this supposed safeguard, if a local entity wants to take the lives of Canada geese, an application and a verbal statement over the phone grants instant permit approval from the USDA –which killed 26,000 Canada geese last year alone.

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BLOG

Ag-gag may be overturned, but the industry is still desperately trying to hide the truth.

August 11, 2022

These stories - the story of Smithfield, the story of Lily and Lizzie, and the story of government and industry collusion - are too important to tell for us to just give in to intimidation and bullying.

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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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