Breaking news and publications from Direct Action Everywhere.
Media inquiry? Please email press@dxe.io.
TOP PRESS
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.”
TOP PRESS
October 24, 2025
The Guardian
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
November 4, 2023
The Intercept
PRESS
November 3, 2023
Sentient Media
On top of the gag order, Passaglia consistently barred the defendants from introducing what could have been damning evidence — specifically the name and symptoms of a deadly disease spreading on the duck farm, and much of their footage capturing conditions where animals are housed.
PRESS
November 3, 2023
Sentient Media
PRESS
November 3, 2023
Davis Vanguard
DxE said Hsiung “plans to appeal the conviction in Sonoma based on several rulings by Judge Laura Passaglia that constitute prejudicial and reversible error, including the exclusion of almost all photo and video evidence showing animal cruelty at the factory farms where the rescues occurred.”
PRESS
November 3, 2023
Davis Vanguard
PRESS
November 2, 2023
Northern California Public Media
Hsiung’s supporters, many with the group Direct Action Everywhere, expressed shock by Thursday’s verdict, many fighting back tears and wishing Hsiung well as he was taken for processing at Sonoma County's Main Adult Detention Facility.
PRESS
November 2, 2023
Northern California Public Media
PRESS
November 2, 2023
Press Democrat
The group, Direct Action Everywhere, has been investigating animal cruelty at the two farms where protests occurred while the trial went on, organizer Zoe Rosenberg told reporters. They sought to file what they said is evidence they have gathered with DA Carla Rodriguez, who, according to Rosenberg, had indicated to the group that she would consider an investigation of their claims after the trial concluded.
PRESS
November 2, 2023
Press Democrat
PRESS
October 27, 2023
KRON4 News
On Saturday afternoon, animal rights advocates with Direct Action Everywhere and Stop Bloodsports will gather outside the Golden Gate Fields for a demonstration calling out the horseracing industry and memorializing horses who died at the track this fall.
PRESS
October 26, 2023
Northern California Public Media
On Wednesday, jurors asked two questions seeking legal clarifications related to the case, but a verdict was not reached. The defendant's committed group of supporters, mostly associated with the group Direct Action Everywhere, were once again camped out in front of the court, holding signs and standing in wait for the trial’s outcome.
PRESS
October 26, 2023
Northern California Public Media
PRESS
October 25, 2023
Davis Vanguard
Hsiung was indeed transparent in his closing, telling the jury, “We did what we did because 11 days before the rescue effort at Sunrise, I saw this bird, half blind, unable to move away, unable to even jump up two feet to reach food and water and I left her to die. When I left her to die, that broke my heart.”
PRESS
October 25, 2023
Davis Vanguard
PRESS
October 24, 2023
Press Democrat
Hsiung emphasized his intent to help struggling animals in the 2018 demonstration. But he denied involvement in the second one in 2019.
PRESS
October 24, 2023
Press Democrat
TOP PRESS
October 25, 2022
Vox
The pigs’ essentially zero value is baked into the meat industry’s business model... 15 percent of piglets die before they’re finished weaning. The pork industry may slaughter over 125 million pigs a year, but they breed far more, knowing many will die from disease and injury.
TOP PRESS
October 18, 2022
New York Times
During the closing statements in the trial, in which I represented myself, I told jurors that a not-guilty verdict would encourage corporations to treat animals under their care with more compassion and make governments more open to animal cruelty complaints.
TOP PRESS
October 11, 2022
Democracy Now!
In a major victory for animal rights, a jury in Utah has acquitted two animal rights activists who each faced up to five and a half years of prison time for rescuing two sick piglets from Smithfield’s Circle Four Farms, one of the world’s largest pig farms.
TOP PRESS
October 8, 2022
The Intercept
“Whenever I think about the condition Lily was in and the desperation we felt when we saw her there, struggling and so small and so sick, a little baby in such a horrible, awful, brutal place,” Hsiung said in a video posted to Instagram, “we just wanted to get her out.” Animal rescue “is not the worst part of us as human beings. It’s the best of us.”
TOP PRESS
October 8, 2022
New York Times
Many animal welfare advocates viewed the trial as a display of corporate power, and a test of whether the meat industry can legally prevent the public from seeing the sometimes unsavory aspects of modern mass food production.
TOP PRESS
October 3, 2022
Fox 13 Salt Lake City
“They did a nonviolent action, and they saved the lives of two piglets who would have been discarded by the industry anyway.”
TOP PRESS
September 19, 2022
Harper's Magazine
Most readers care about humans, not pigs. What gets us going is a compelling main character facing many years in prison, not several million pigs spending a lifetime in circumstances that make prison look comparatively relaxing.
TOP PRESS
April 28, 2022
New York Magazine
Protests are often unpopular, but as this article shows, in the end, they tend to be right.
TOP PRESS
April 14, 2022
The Intercept
DxE documented video footage of the depopulation at Rembrandt Enterprises, demonstrating the brutal reality of VSD and the true toll of our broken "food" system.
BLOG
October 27, 2025
Updates and summaries from Week 7 of the Perdue Rescue Trial
BLOG
October 20, 2025
Updates and summaries from Week 6 of the Perdue Rescue Trial
BLOG
October 13, 2025
Updates and summaries from Week 5 of the Perdue Rescue Trial
BLOG
October 6, 2025
Updates and summaries from Week 4 of the Perdue Rescue Trial
BLOG
September 29, 2025
Updates and summaries from Week 3 of the Perdue Rescue Trial
BLOG
September 22, 2025
Updates and summaries from Week 2 of the Perdue Rescue Trial
BLOG
September 15, 2025
Updates and summaries from Week 1 of the Perdue Rescue Trial
BLOG
September 12, 2025
The Perdue Rescue Trial begins on Monday, September 15th at the Sonoma County Superior Court in Santa Rosa, California.
BLOG
July 31, 2025
Trader Joe’s is known as “America’s most reputable brand,” and I’m learning firsthand that this might be because they relentlessly silence their critics and go to great lengths to protect their image from public scrutiny.
PRESS RELEASE
May 5, 2023
Congresswoman Claudia Tenney wants federal funds used to surveil people who support rescuing animals in distress.
PRESS RELEASE
May 3, 2023
Animal rights activists are calling this a win for the right to rescue animals from abuse.
PRESS RELEASE
April 25, 2023
A Beaver County Judge convicted Curtis Vollmar of criminal trespass and disorderly conduct for talking to members of the public about Smithfield Foods.
PRESS RELEASE
April 24, 2023
The “Right to Rescue” is a hot topic after a California jury acquitted two activists who removed sick birds from a Foster Farms slaughter truck. Jurors, defendants, attorneys, and law professors gathered to discuss the verdict's meaning for laws related to corporate animal abuse, animal rescue, and animal personhood.
PRESS RELEASE
April 16, 2023
A California jury found two women “not guilty” for rescuing sick birds from a Foster Farms slaughter truck.
PRESS RELEASE
March 4, 2023
“The racing industry gives horses ridiculous names like “Big Laugh” because the suffering of these animals is just a game to them,” said DxE organizer Kitty Jones. “We give them respectful names because we see them as individuals worthy of respect.”
PRESS RELEASE
February 25, 2023
Referencing Chick-Fil-A’s history of oppression toward marginalized groups, activists say the company’s disregard for animals is part of a pattern.
PRESS RELEASE
February 15, 2023
Citing practices that cause prolonged, terrifying, and painful deaths at Foster Farms’ killing facility, activists call for corporate accountability.
PRESS RELEASE
January 26, 2023
More than 5,000 monkeys are confined at the center for use in research and breeding. Abusive methods cited by activists include the practice of withholding food and water until monkeys in research studies are so dehydrated they will perform tasks in order to be rewarded with minuscule amounts of food or water.
