News

Breaking news and publications from Direct Action Everywhere.

Media inquiry? Please email press@dxe.io.

Featured

All News

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.

Read More

PRESS RELEASE

Felony Charges Dismissed Against Beagle Rescuers

March 8, 2024

Read More

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.’ ”

Read More

PRESS

A Crime of Compassion?

March 7, 2024

Isthmus

Read More

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."

Read More

PRESS

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

March 6, 2024

Pathways

Read More

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.

Read More

PRESS RELEASE

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

February 27, 2024

Read More

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.”

Read More

PRESS

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

February 14, 2024

Sentient Media

Read More

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.

Read More

PRESS

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

January 31, 2024

Daily Illini

Read More

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.

Read More

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

Read More

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.

Read More

PRESS

An Emerging Food Fight in California

January 29, 2024

Politico

Read More

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.

Read More

PRESS RELEASE

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

January 27, 2024

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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...

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.”

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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

Read More

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. 

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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

Read More

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

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.”

Read More

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

Read More