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This Disabled Duck is at the Center of a Felony Case. His Name is Bruce.

August 30, 2023

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This Disabled Duck is at the Center of a Felony Case. His Name is Bruce.

August 30, 2023

If you saw a little duckling on his back, paddling his legs and struggling to get back up, what would you do? Would you keep walking? Or would you help him? 

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PRESS

Direct Action Everywhere Activists Face Felony and Misdemeanor Charges

August 30, 2023

Daily Californian

“An open rescuer who removes sick animals from this facility should be able to successfully argue for a necessity defense against any charges of trespass or misappropriation,” University of California College of the Law, San Francisco professor Hadar Aviram wrote in a legal opinion.

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PRESS

Direct Action Everywhere Activists Face Felony and Misdemeanor Charges

August 30, 2023

Daily Californian

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PRESS

Opinion: Animal Rights Groups Say They Helped End Horse Racing at Golden Gate Fields

August 28, 2023

Berkeleyside

Activists at Berkeley-based Direct Action Everywhere and Stop Blood Sports say that years of pressure played a key role in ending the sport in the Bay Area.

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PRESS

Opinion: Animal Rights Groups Say They Helped End Horse Racing at Golden Gate Fields

August 28, 2023

Berkeleyside

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PRESS

Utah Officers Shut Down Animal Rights Activists. Now Their County Is Paying the Protesters Thousands.

August 15, 2023

Salt Lake Tribune

The settlement is a “tremendous victory for the animals as well as the constitutional rights we all cherish,” Jeremy Beckham, a spokesperson for the Utah coalition, said in a news release Monday.

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PRESS

Utah Officers Shut Down Animal Rights Activists. Now Their County Is Paying the Protesters Thousands.

August 15, 2023

Salt Lake Tribune

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PRESS

Beaver County Pays Pig Farm Pioneer Day Protesters More Than $52K in Federal Civil Rights Settlement

August 14, 2023

St. George News

“I’m happy that it’s a win for free speech in Beaver and I’m happy that these funds are going to go toward the animals,” [plaintiff Curtis] Vollmar said.

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PRESS

Beaver County Pays Pig Farm Pioneer Day Protesters More Than $52K in Federal Civil Rights Settlement

August 14, 2023

St. George News

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PRESS

Opinion: The Government Is Trying to Stifle a Growing Animal Rights Movement

August 10, 2023

Salt Lake Tribune

The backlash to the success of the animal rights movement echoes the backlash to other growing social movements... Just as I took the stand to speak out against bills in Utah, community members can find ways to push for justice and transparency. The acquittals of activists in Utah and California, the rejection of industry-driven bills, and the introduction of animal welfare propositions indicate that our message is reaching the public and show that we need to continue to exercise the power of collective action.

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PRESS

Opinion: The Government Is Trying to Stifle a Growing Animal Rights Movement

August 10, 2023

Salt Lake Tribune

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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

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

August 7, 2023

National Geographic

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PRESS

Voters Will Weigh-in on Banning Berkeley Factory Farms in 2024

August 3, 2023

KALW Public Media

Activists are hoping that the ordinance will inspire other cities in California to pass their own prohibitions.

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PRESS

Voters Will Weigh-in on Banning Berkeley Factory Farms in 2024

August 3, 2023

KALW Public Media

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PRESS

Factory Farm Ban Slated for Ballot Following Signatures

August 3, 2023

SF Gate

If passed, the measure would be the first of its kind in California.

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PRESS

Factory Farm Ban Slated for Ballot Following Signatures

August 3, 2023

SF Gate

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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

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

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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TOP PRESS

Secret Recordings Capture the Ugly Reality Inside a Denver Slaughterhouse

October 9, 2024

The Intercept

Videos shared with The Intercept prior to the report’s public release show, among other scenes, lambs with their throats slit hanging upside down and thrashing on the slaughter line; one animal with an internal organ that has been torn inside-out and left dangling behind it as it heads to slaughter; injured lambs being led to slaughter; workers laughing, spanking animals, and engaging in simulated sex acts with nearby machinery as lambs are having their throats slit; and the apparent use of so-called Judas sheep — adult sheep kept alive at the facility and used to lead the young sheep to slaughter.

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TOP PRESS

Sonoma Loves Its Farms. Activists Call Them Factories. Could a Ballot Measure Upend This County?

August 30, 2024

San Francisco Chronicle

In dimly lit indoor aisles at Weber Family Farms in Petaluma, hundreds of thousands of white chickens live out their 90 weeks of life. They fly from perch to perch. They dust bathe in the bedding. They nip at water dispensers. They lay egg after egg. And they never leave. These barns are at the heart of a bitter fight that Mike Weber and Samantha Faye are waging for the future of local farming.

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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.”

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DxE's Blog

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.

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BLOG

Newcomer's Perspective

December 26, 2023

The Sonoma County Court's actions didn't stop me but, instead, spurred me to further action just as it did for many others.

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BLOG

I’m Facing over 20 Years in Prison for Rescuing Animals, But I Am Not Afraid

December 2, 2023

Whether I lose my freedom for days, weeks, months, or even years, it is worth it to give even one or two animals a chance to experience freedom for the first time in their entire lives.

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BLOG

A Baby Chicken Taught Me to Never Give Up Hope. His Name is Vincent.

October 1, 2023

To everyone who doesn’t believe in a better world, I understand. I feel your pain and I know how hard it is to keep going in a world as painful as ours. But, just a glimmer of hope saved Vincent’s life and it might just save the rest of the animals, too. So please, don’t give up.

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BLOG

This Disabled Duck is at the Center of a Felony Case. His Name is Bruce.

August 30, 2023

If you saw a little duckling on his back, paddling his legs and struggling to get back up, what would you do? Would you keep walking? Or would you help him? 

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BLOG

Exposing Petaluma Poultry

July 1, 2023

Since 2018, DxE investigators have documented routine violations of California's animal cruelty laws at Petaluma Poultry factory farms, but the authorities refuse to intervene -- so they are taking action themselves to rescue the animals.

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BLOG

A Letter to the Editor Re: "Churchill Downs to Cease Racing as It Investigates Deaths of Horses"

June 5, 2023

Your story on the shutdown of the Kentucky Derby racetrack failed to provide important context: the growing worldwide movement to abolish horseracing.

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BLOG

Free Speech under Attack in Rural America

May 23, 2023

During my time in Utah, I found people willing to have open and honest discussions. Why, then, are high-ranking members of the Church and the police attempting to stop that from happening? Could it be that egregious abuses documented by DxE at Smithfield were getting too close to those in power? When open dialogue threatens a power structure, it’s time to scrutinize that power structure.

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BLOG

Cedar the Goat Shines a Light on the Dark Reality of 4-H and FFA

May 1, 2023

I have seen firsthand the trauma these programs inflict on children and the violence they inflict on animals. It’s time we reform 4-H and FFA to no longer include programs where kids raise animals to die.

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Our Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE

Utah judge rules to gag evidence of cruelty, disease at Smithfield Foods in trial of prominent animal rights activist

February 23, 2022

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

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PRESS RELEASE

California Assemblymember Introduces Moratorium on New Factory Farms and Slaughterhouses

February 20, 2022

California Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian (D-Van Nuys) introduced a bill Friday to enact a moratorium on new factory farms and slaughterhouses statewide. Assemblymember Alex Lee (D-San José) is a joint author on the bill, AB 2764.

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PRESS RELEASE

BREAK UP WITH TYSON: UCB Students’ Valentines Day Protest Calls Out University Sourcing from Factory Farms

February 13, 2022

UC Berkeley administrators claim the world’s largest chicken producer doesn’t use factory farming

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PRESS RELEASE

After Mass Pig Killing Case Dismissal, State Capitol Protesters Decry “Ag-Gag” Laws

January 21, 2022

Demonstrators allege widespread criminal animal abuse by Iowa Select Farms

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PRESS RELEASE

Iowa “Ag-Gag” Prosecution Dismissed Against Man Who Exposed Mass Pig Killings

January 18, 2022

Prosecution moved to dismiss case in advance of hearing on expanding media access to trial

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PRESS RELEASE

East Bay Residents Hold Memorial Demonstration for Horses Killed at Golden Gate Fields

December 11, 2021

26 horses have died at the facility this year

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PRESS RELEASE

GUILTY: Jury Convicts Animal Rights Activist Who Livestreamed Goat Rescue

December 5, 2021

Supporters say rescue of sick baby goat was an act of compassion

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Protest Petaluma Poultry Slaughterhouse with Giant Symbol and Banner for Rose’s Law

December 5, 2021

Protestors, including felony defendants, call for Rose’s Law: Animal Bill of Rights

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PRESS RELEASE

Thanksgiving Miracle: Utah Farmer Releases Turkeys to Whistleblowers Facing Felonies for Factory Farm Investigations

November 22, 2021

While Smithfield demands prison for Utah activists, this turkey farmer defends their actions, and is even helping them rescue more

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