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PRESS

Animal Rights Protests at Perdue Executives’ Sonoma County Homes Ignite Free Speech Fight

August 23, 2025

Press Democrat

After months of unanswered emails and demonstrations, DxE organizer Cassie King said protesting at executives' homes was the only way to get their attention. “We've been ignored by the company every time we email or show up at their offices,” King said. “Now we're doing what we can to reach the people who literally oversee the lives and deaths of these animals and who have the power to stop animals from starving to death or being boiled alive.

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PRESS

Animal Rights Protests at Perdue Executives’ Sonoma County Homes Ignite Free Speech Fight

August 23, 2025

Press Democrat

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PRESS

Dane County Supervisors Push to Remove Dogs from Blue Mounds Breeder During Investigations

August 20, 2025

WMTV News

After years of animal welfare advocates raising concerns about conditions at a Dane County dog breeding facility, county supervisors are now stepping in.

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PRESS

Dane County Supervisors Push to Remove Dogs from Blue Mounds Breeder During Investigations

August 20, 2025

WMTV News

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PRESS

3 Charged as Protester Chains Herself to Zoo Structure in Protest of Lucy’s Captivity

August 19, 2025

CTV News

A 53-year-old woman chained herself to a structure at the zoo entrance around noon. According to a news release, the protest was put on by a group called Direct Action Everywhere in hopes of having Lucy transferred to a sanctuary in Tennessee.

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PRESS

3 Charged as Protester Chains Herself to Zoo Structure in Protest of Lucy’s Captivity

August 19, 2025

CTV News

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PRESS

Animal Rights Activists Protest at PB Trader Joe’s

August 17, 2025

Times of San Diego

Animal rights advocates protested in front of a Trader Joe’s in Pacific Beach Sunday afternoon to demand that the grocery chain stop purchasing chickens from Petaluma Poultry. It was one of many that Direct Action Everywhere held over the weekend at Trader Joe’s in multiple states.

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PRESS

Animal Rights Activists Protest at PB Trader Joe’s

August 17, 2025

Times of San Diego

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Protest at Berkeley Trader Joe's Over Purchase of Chickens from Perdue's Petaluma Poultry

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.

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Protest at Berkeley Trader Joe's Over Purchase of Chickens from Perdue's Petaluma Poultry

August 16, 2025

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PRESS

Judge Denies Trader Joe’s Protest Ban; Activists Rally in Encino

August 16, 2025

Van Nuys News Press

Trader Joe’s had sought a sweeping ban on protests inside and outside all 205 California stores. On Tuesday, Judge Keith Fong denied the request as it applied to outside protests and criticized the company for refusing to engage with activists. Before the Encino store protest, demonstrators also gathered near the home of Trader Joe’s CEO, who lives in the neighborhood.

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PRESS

Judge Denies Trader Joe’s Protest Ban; Activists Rally in Encino

August 16, 2025

Van Nuys News Press

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PRESS

A Rude Awakening: Mistreated Poultry

August 15, 2025

KPFA

On today’s show, Direct Action Everywhere will be holding an action in front of Trader Joe’s in Berkeley tomorrow and Cassie King will explain why.

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PRESS

A Rude Awakening: Mistreated Poultry

August 15, 2025

KPFA

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BLOG

Trader Joe’s Is Suing Me to Keep You in the Dark

July 31, 2025

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BLOG

Trader Joe’s Is Suing Me to Keep You in the Dark

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.

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Protest at Homes of Perdue Executives, After Court Denies Temporary Restraining Order

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.”

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Protest at Homes of Perdue Executives, After Court Denies Temporary Restraining Order

July 26, 2025

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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

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

Activists Drop Banner From Roof of In-N-Out, Demanding the Company Cease Supplying From Factory Farms

August 6, 2021

California residents want the the company to disclose supplier information, citing animal abuse and environmental destruction

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PRESS RELEASE

Berkeley Becomes First U.S. City to Commit to Exclusively Plant-Based Food Purchases

July 26, 2021

Berkeley City Council passed a resolution late Tuesday to switch 50% of city expenditures on animal-based foods to plant-based by 2024, and commit to a long-term goal of 100% plant-based.

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Held Rally at City Hall After 18 Hour Sit-In at Berkeley Mayor’s House

July 20, 2021

Activists want to keep the pressure on Mayor Arreguin’s climate commitments

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Doused in Fake Blood, Locked in Cages Demand Neiman Marcus Drop Fur

June 26, 2021

Chanting activists entered the store holding placards while others rallied outside

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Held Rally at Berkeley Mayor’s House, Demanding City Divest from Animal Agriculture

June 14, 2021

Berkeley residents say Mayor Arreguín broke his commitment to support their divestment proposal

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PRESS RELEASE

State Capitol Demonstration Saturday Demands Factory Farm Moratorium

May 28, 2021

3-day occupation at Governor Newsom’s home culminated with march to State Capitol building for “No More Factory Farms” rally

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PRESS RELEASE

BREAKING: Animal Rights Activist Disrupts Preakness Stakes Trophy Presentation

May 14, 2021

Group currently being sued by billionaire track owners calls for end to horse racing, citing animal cruelty

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PRESS RELEASE

UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza Fountain Dyed Blood Red After Chancellor and Director of Dining Defend Sourcing from Tyson Foods

May 9, 2021

University administrators falsely claim agribusiness giant isn’t engaged in factory farming, according to students

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PRESS RELEASE

Following UC Berkeley Dining Facility Lockdown, Students Secure Meeting with Chancellor

April 9, 2021

Citing animal cruelty exposés, activists demand the university stop supplying from factory farms

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