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
PRESS
September 8, 2023
Sentient Media
Do people have a right to rescue animals from suffering? And, more than that, should animals have the right to live a life free of suffering? These questions could be answered by a Sonoma County trial now underway in Northern California.
PRESS
September 8, 2023
Sentient Media
PRESS RELEASE
September 5, 2023
Activists say voter enthusiasm is high for a ban on factory farms in Berkeley after submitting more than 4,900 signatures to the Berkeley city clerk today, a large overshoot beyond the 3,000 required to get the measure on the ballot.
PRESS RELEASE
September 5, 2023
PRESS
August 30, 2023
Waging Nonviolence
There is nothing right about a legal system that protects those hurting animals and punishes those trying to save them.
PRESS
August 30, 2023
Waging Nonviolence
BLOG
August 30, 2023
BLOG
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?
PRESS
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.
PRESS
August 30, 2023
Daily Californian
PRESS
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.
PRESS
August 28, 2023
Berkeleyside
PRESS
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.
PRESS
August 15, 2023
Salt Lake Tribune
PRESS
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.
PRESS
August 14, 2023
St. George News
PRESS
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.
PRESS
August 10, 2023
Salt Lake Tribune
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
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.”
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
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.
BLOG
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.
BLOG
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.
BLOG
December 4, 2025
This is the statement defendant Zoe Rosenberg read in court at her sentencing hearing on Dec. 3, 2025, before she was sentenced to 90 days in jail for rescuing Poppy, Aster, Ivy, and Azalea from Perdue's Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse.
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
PRESS RELEASE
December 3, 2025
Today, animal rescuer Zoe Rosenberg was sentenced to 90 days in custody for saving four chickens from Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse. She will become eligible for jail alternatives for the final 60 days of her sentence.
PRESS RELEASE
November 8, 2025
DxE is calling for Petaluma Poultry to be prosecuted for scalding birds alive, citing that California’s animal cruelty law prohibits inflicting unnecessary cruelty on an animal.
PRESS RELEASE
November 5, 2025
Zoe Rosenberg spoke at the AG’s Office on Wednesday, saying, “Sonoma County’s District Attorney’s Office is not doing anything to address the criminal animal cruelty. Instead, they spent the last two years prosecuting me.”
PRESS RELEASE
October 29, 2025
At trial, the court severely limited what the jury was able to know about these prior findings at Petaluma Poultry, despite the fact that they heavily influenced Ms. Rosenberg’s belief that rescue was necessary.
PRESS RELEASE
September 20, 2025
"I believe Zoe did the right thing by taking sick animals to the vet," said Sharon Loren of Penngrove, who joined the march. "Compassion should never be a crime, but it's on trial here in Sonoma County."
PRESS RELEASE
September 15, 2025
Zoe Rosenberg, 23, is charged with felony conspiracy and 3 misdemeanors for rescuing chickens from Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse
PRESS RELEASE
August 30, 2025
Activists use Trader Joe’s nautical theme to urge the company to follow its moral compass and steer away from Petaluma Poultry
PRESS RELEASE
August 16, 2025
Dozens of activists with the animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) protested outside the Trader Joe's store at 1885 University Avenue in Berkeley, after an Alameda County judge partially denied Trader Joe's requested temporary restraining order against DxE on Tuesday.
PRESS RELEASE
July 26, 2025
Around thirty animal rights activists with Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) held a peaceful protest outside the home of Scott Fitzpatrick, the Live Production Manager for Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry, after Sonoma County Judge Patrick Broderick denied Fitzpatrick’s application for a temporary restraining order on Friday, citing “insufficient evidence.”
