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Activists Target Petaluma Poultry

June 14, 2023

NorCal Public Media

"As somebody who has a disability myself," Rosenberg said. "I can't imagine what it's like to be an animal who's sick and disabled on the floor of one of these factory farms fighting for food and water, and so I wanna get those animals out and get them the care that they deserve."

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PRESS

Activists Target Petaluma Poultry

June 14, 2023

NorCal Public Media

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PRESS

Bay Area Activist Group Back at Petaluma Poultry Facility, Removes 18 Chickens It Says Reflect Cruel Conditions

June 13, 2023

Press Democrat

Representatives of Direct Action Everywhere, which claimed responsibility for the actions on social media Tuesday, made off with 18 chickens. Their actions, the latest in a series of similar events, are being investigated.

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PRESS

Bay Area Activist Group Back at Petaluma Poultry Facility, Removes 18 Chickens It Says Reflect Cruel Conditions

June 13, 2023

Press Democrat

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PRESS

Animal Rights Activists, Dressed as Factory Workers, Take Chickens from Petaluma Poultry Facility

June 13, 2023

KTVU Fox Bay Area

The group said there have been documented instances of "birds collapsed on the floor or stuck on their backs and unable to walk to food or water, left to slowly starve to death; birds with splayed legs; birds with open wounds."

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PRESS

Animal Rights Activists, Dressed as Factory Workers, Take Chickens from Petaluma Poultry Facility

June 13, 2023

KTVU Fox Bay Area

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PRESS RELEASE

Waves of People Rescue Sick Animals from Perdue's Petaluma Poultry Slaughterhouse, Following an Investigation Finding Rampant Abuse and Disease

June 13, 2023

Hundreds are gathered outside the slaughterhouse calling on the Sonoma County District Attorney to prosecute Petaluma Poultry for documented criminal animal cruelty and infectious diseases that are endangering public health

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PRESS RELEASE

Waves of People Rescue Sick Animals from Perdue's Petaluma Poultry Slaughterhouse, Following an Investigation Finding Rampant Abuse and Disease

June 13, 2023

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PRESS

Animal Liberation Marchers 'Rescue' 4 Mice and a Betta Fish From Pet Store

June 10, 2023

SF Gate

The activists said the live mice are typically sold to be fed to predators, while betta fish come from breeding factories.

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PRESS

Animal Liberation Marchers 'Rescue' 4 Mice and a Betta Fish From Pet Store

June 10, 2023

SF Gate

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PRESS RELEASE

Mice and Fish Rescued from Petco During Animal Liberation March in San Francisco

June 10, 2023

While hundreds rallied in support of the right to rescue animals from abuse, a few activists delivered “feeder” mice and suffering betta fish to safety.

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PRESS RELEASE

Mice and Fish Rescued from Petco During Animal Liberation March in San Francisco

June 10, 2023

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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

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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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PRESS

Bay Area Animal Activists Call for Golden Gate Fields to Shut Down after Horse Deaths

June 3, 2023

ABC7 News

"[Horses being killed is] just inherent to the industry. These horses are bred for racing, they're fed for racing, they're drugged for racing. Everything about the way that they're raised is for profit, not for their well-being," Cassie King said.

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PRESS

Bay Area Animal Activists Call for Golden Gate Fields to Shut Down after Horse Deaths

June 3, 2023

ABC7 News

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PRESS RELEASE

Trial Finally Scheduled for Animal Rights Activists Facing Felonies for Rescues in Sonoma County

May 31, 2023

Recent similar trials in St. George, UT and Merced, CA resulted in groundbreaking acquittals for open rescuers.

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PRESS RELEASE

Trial Finally Scheduled for Animal Rights Activists Facing Felonies for Rescues in Sonoma County

May 31, 2023

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Our Top Press Hits

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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TOP PRESS

An Animal-Rights Activist and the Problem of Political Despair

March 15, 2024

The New Yorker

Instead of planning actions, many activists now spend their time litigating microaggressions and small disputes within their ranks... As a response, [DxE co-founder Wayne] Hsiung has tried to promote a maxim of "braver spaces, not safer spaces," which encourages the animal rights community to put aside their individual concerns, if possible, and do things like risk felony jail time for the cause.

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DxE's Blog

BLOG

Our 2023 Story

March 23, 2023

We have the momentum and we cannot stop now. 2023 will bring more open rescues, more bold actions, and more trials. As we tear down the industry, we lift up animals. We show the world the violence that must be left in the past, and the beauty the future can hold.

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BLOG

Smithfield Trial Juror Speaks Up against New Anti-Rescue Bill in Utah

February 1, 2023

Utah legislators with ties to the Farm Bureau released House Bill 114, “Theft Defense Amendments,” in direct response to the outcome of the Smithfield Trial.

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BLOG

2023 Is Going to Be B.A.D.A.S.S.

January 28, 2023

In the first-ever Bay Area Direct Action Skill Share (B.A.D.A.S.S.), starting March 25, a cross-movement cohort of 100 activists will unite in Oakland for 5 days of intensive direct action training.

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BLOG

Inspiring Stories from 2022, Part 3

January 13, 2023

DxE Korea is unstoppable; disrupting the NBA playoffs gets people talking (and not just about sports); and a landmark verdict for the Right to Rescue

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BLOG

Inspiring Stories from 2022, Part 2

January 11, 2023

Keeping sanctuary animals safe; activists who saved chickens demand a date with the justice system; and Charlie, a piglet whose story touched thousands

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BLOG

Inspiring Stories from 2022, Part 1

January 10, 2023

Read how Dora saved herself, how "No More Factory Farms" was introduced as legislation in California, and why two brand-new activists decided to get loud for animal rights

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BLOG

Not Guilty by Reason of Humanity

December 13, 2022

The feeling of hearing those words “not guilty” after five long years of the uncertainty and judicial bureaucracy was indescribable. But mostly I felt proud. Proud of the jury, our legal team, and Direct Action Everywhere.

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BLOG

Court Update: The #SonomaTrial Is Finally on the Horizon

December 6, 2022

Preliminary hearings finally happened for Rachel and Jon. The prosecution argued that they were "co-conspirators" in the 2018 and 2019 rescues at Sonoma County factory farms. Judge Urioste agreed to send the case to trial on felony charges.

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BLOG

True Crime Stories: I Was Arrested for Filming a Protest

November 30, 2022

Corporations seem more concerned with shielding the practices of their suppliers from the public than with the cruelty and disease documented in those farms. They know that the public would be horrified if they saw the truth. But what these corporations don’t understand is that repression often makes movements stronger. I’m not going to stop talking about what happens to animals, and I’m not going to stop documenting protests.

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Our Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE

Activists Call on USDA to End Use of Gas Chambers, Delivering Undercover Footage of Pigs Being Gassed in Slaughterhouse

January 24, 2023

The footage shows pigs screaming, gasping, thrashing violently, and trying to escape as they descend into the pit of CO2 gas.

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PRESS RELEASE

International Animal Rights Network Re-Creates Dramatic First Protest to Celebrate 10 Years of Growth and Landmark Achievements

January 21, 2023

Saturday’s Bay Area demonstration was a nonviolent disruption of Sprouts Farmers Market, recreating DxE’s first-ever action but with a far larger assemblage than the seven activists who participated in 2013. As at the original action, activists delivered a slam poem describing how farm animals live and die while standing in the store’s “meat” section.

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PRESS RELEASE

First-Ever Footage inside a US Slaughterhouse Gas Chamber Obtained at Smithfield Foods

January 18, 2023

Investigator Raven Deerbrook recorded over 16 hours of footage from multiple angles, which shows pigs screaming, gasping, thrashing violently and trying to escape as they descend into the pit of CO2 gas. Former federal prosecutor Bonnie Klapper reviewed the video and determined that use of these devices on pigs violates federal law.

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PRESS RELEASE

Residents Hold Memorial Protest for 15 Horses Who Died at Golden Gate Fields in 2022

January 7, 2023

Activists installed images representing each horse who died in 2022 along the fence at I-80 and hung a 100-foot-long “Shut Down Golden Gate Fields” banner from the pedestrian bridge above I-80.

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PRESS RELEASE

Residents Protest Golden Gate Fields Following Deaths of Three Horses

December 3, 2022

“Humans can consent to run and risk injury. The horses do not, and when they get injured and can’t run anymore, they are killed."

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PRESS RELEASE

Berkeley Resident Arrested on Felonies for Filming Safeway Protest, Following Findings of Cruelty and Disease at the Store’s Turkey Supplier

November 17, 2022

The investigation at Foster Farms found an E. coli-infected turkey chick, buckets of dead chicks, and a litter beetle infestation. Said former U.S. prosecutor Bonnie Klapper, "[The arrest] is an absurd action on the part of the Berkeley police and one which serves only to protect corporations engaged in animal cruelty from being held accountable by consumers.”

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PRESS RELEASE

After Acquittal for Smithfield Foods, Whistleblowers and Activists Protest Costco’s Continued Sale of Smithfield Pork

November 12, 2022

The two factory farm investigators who were found “not guilty” last month joined the protest.

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PRESS RELEASE

Investigation Finds Sick Turkey Chicks among Litter Beetle- and Larvae-Infested Corpses at Foster Farms

November 10, 2022

Rescued turkey chick had an infection called omphalitis caused by E. coli.

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PRESS RELEASE

Smithfield Piglet Rescuers Acquitted in Landmark Animal Rights Case

October 9, 2022

Activists take on a multibillion-dollar industry -- and win.

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