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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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PRESS RELEASE

Smithfield Piglet Rescuers Acquitted in Landmark Animal Rights Case

October 9, 2022

Activists take on multi-billion dollar industry - and win

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TOP PRESS

Activists Acquitted in Trial for Taking Piglets from Smithfield Foods

October 8, 2022

The Intercept

“Whenever I think about the condition Lily was in and the desperation we felt when we saw her there, struggling and so small and so sick, a little baby in such a horrible, awful, brutal place,” Hsiung said in a video posted to Instagram, “we just wanted to get her out.” Animal rescue “is not the worst part of us as human beings. It’s the best of us.”

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TOP PRESS

Activists Acquitted in Trial for Taking Piglets from Smithfield Foods

October 8, 2022

The Intercept

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PRESS

Animal Rights Activists Found Not Guilty on All Charges after Two Piglets Were Taken from Circle Four Farms in Utah

October 8, 2022

Salt Lake Tribune

Hsiung urged the jury to “make a decision of conscience,” saying it could lead to companies being more compassionate and governments being more open to animal cruelty complaints.

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PRESS

Animal Rights Activists Found Not Guilty on All Charges after Two Piglets Were Taken from Circle Four Farms in Utah

October 8, 2022

Salt Lake Tribune

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TOP PRESS

Animal Rights Activists Are Acquitted in Smithfield Piglet Case

October 8, 2022

New York Times

Many animal welfare advocates viewed the trial as a display of corporate power, and a test of whether the meat industry can legally prevent the public from seeing the sometimes unsavory aspects of modern mass food production.

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TOP PRESS

Animal Rights Activists Are Acquitted in Smithfield Piglet Case

October 8, 2022

New York Times

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PRESS

Jury Deliberating Case of Animal Activists Charged with Taking Pigs from Utah Farm

October 7, 2022

KSL News

The video created by the company, which directly shows Hsiung taking the pigs and talking about why he took them, was not allowed to be shown at the trial.

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PRESS

Jury Deliberating Case of Animal Activists Charged with Taking Pigs from Utah Farm

October 7, 2022

KSL News

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PRESS

Defendant Highlighted in Rams-49ers Demonstration Swipes at Bobby Wagner over Protester Tackle

October 6, 2022

Fox News

"There are a lot of things that are more important than a sporting event, including the animal exploitation and environmental degradation perpetrated by Smithfield Foods."

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PRESS

Defendant Highlighted in Rams-49ers Demonstration Swipes at Bobby Wagner over Protester Tackle

October 6, 2022

Fox News

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PRESS

Animal Rights Whistleblowers Stand Trial as Supporters Rally Outside Utah Courthouse

October 5, 2022

Waging Nonviolence

More than 70 animal rights activists stood outside a courtroom in St. George, Utah, on Tuesday, holding up a giant image of Utah Attorney Gen. Sean Reyes. A word bubble hovered above his head saying, “I cover up animal cruelty.”

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PRESS

Animal Rights Whistleblowers Stand Trial as Supporters Rally Outside Utah Courthouse

October 5, 2022

Waging Nonviolence

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PRESS

"Elevate the Message:" Animal Rights Activists Protest in St. George ahead of Circle Four Farm Trial

October 4, 2022

St George News

As the judge overseeing the trial ruled footage and photos taken at the Circle Four Farm cannot be shown in court, protesters are showing them to everyone who passed by in order to “elevate the message as much as possible.”

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PRESS

"Elevate the Message:" Animal Rights Activists Protest in St. George ahead of Circle Four Farm Trial

October 4, 2022

St George News

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PRESS

Video of Rams' Bobby Wagner Tackling Fan Viewed over 6 Million Times

October 4, 2022

Newsweek

"We saw the biggest spike ever to our RightToRescue.com website, where the public can hear about an unconscionably unjust reality. Ordinary people don't want animals to suffer and don't want whistleblowers who rescue sick piglets to go to prison, so they overwhelmingly support Paul and Wayne."

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PRESS

Video of Rams' Bobby Wagner Tackling Fan Viewed over 6 Million Times

October 4, 2022

Newsweek

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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

UC Berkeley Animal Rights Activist Found Guilty in ‘Chicken Rescue’ Trial

October 29, 2025

San Francisco Chronicle

But even if the appellate court doesn’t reverse Rosenberg’s conviction, she likely won’t regret having risked prison time to force a trial. Her trial, by some measures, was still a success. Several national publications — including The New York Times and the Associated Press — covered it, raising awareness of DxE’s goal to eradicate America’s factory-farming industry by 2040.

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TOP PRESS

California Woman on Trial for Taking Chickens from Perdue Farms' Plant Says She Was Rescuing Them

October 28, 2025

The Associated Press

A California animal rights activist on trial for taking four chickens from one of Perdue Farms’ major poultry plants said Tuesday that she was rescuing Poppy, Ivy, Aster, and Azalea from abuse while prosecutors say she broke the law.

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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

Berkeley Grad’s Chicken ‘Rescue’ Trial Begins in Sonoma County with Question of Intent vs. Crime

October 6, 2025

San Francisco Chronicle

Though Rosenberg is technically the one on trial, they plan to force a deep review of the often-unsavory practices occurring at meat-processing facilities across the country.

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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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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

Trial Scheduled for Animal Rescuer

November 1, 2024

Zoe Rosenberg, 22, faces criminal charges for rescuing chickens from Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse in Petaluma, CA

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PRESS RELEASE

Investigators Publish Full Day of Slaughter Footage at Superior Farms, Exposing Routine Cruelty and Violence

October 29, 2024

Superior Farms is the largest industrial lamb slaughterhouse in the country, and is the subject of Ordinance 309 in Denver, an initiative on the November ballot introduced by Pro-Animal Future that would ban slaughterhouses within city limits

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PRESS RELEASE

Prosecutors Concede Evidence Doesn’t Support Felony in Animal Rescue Case

August 20, 2024

Charges to be Dismissed for Third Time in Perdue Chicken Rescue Case

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PRESS RELEASE

Food Network Chef Tyler Florence Cuts Ties with Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry, Following Repeated Protests

August 15, 2024

Animal rights activists with Direct Action Everywhere disrupted Florence at events across the country in recent months calling for the move

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Disrupt Food Network Chef Tyler Florence’s Restaurant, Over Ties to Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry

July 20, 2024

On Saturday evening, animal rights activists protested inside and outside of Miller & Lux, an upscale steakhouse in Mission Bay that is owned by celebrity chef Tyler Florence. The protesters were calling on Florence to cut ties with Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry. They marched and chanted through the restaurant, holding signs that read “Drop Petaluma Poultry” and “Stop Supporting Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry’s Criminal Animal Abuse.”

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PRESS RELEASE

Massive Barn Fire Kills Tens of Thousands of Chickens at Demler Brothers Egg Ranch

July 19, 2024

The Ramona factory farm was the site of a 2019 animal cruelty investigation by Direct Action Everywhere

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PRESS RELEASE

Judge Dismisses Multiple Felonies Against Animal Rescuer

May 13, 2024

Berkeley student in Perdue poultry case now faces 1 felony and 3 misdemeanors

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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.

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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.

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