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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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BLOG

Whole Foods is lying to you. I was arrested for revealing the truth.

July 25, 2025

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BLOG

Whole Foods is lying to you. I was arrested for revealing the truth.

July 25, 2025

Vera supplies the nation’s largest goat milk producer, Meyenberg, and its practices are a far cry from the rigorous standards Whole Foods promises. Thousands of goats are confined in crowded pens without access to pasture; newborn babies are routinely separated from their mothers; and, outside the confinement area, lies a mass graveyard of animals who died prior to slaughter.

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PRESS RELEASE

Second Perdue Foods Executive Sues Animal Rights Group to Stop Public Protests

July 23, 2025

Scott Fitzpatrick, Live Production Manager for national poultry giant Perdue Foods, filed a lawsuit Tuesday to stop public protests by Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) over documented animal cruelty.

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PRESS RELEASE

Second Perdue Foods Executive Sues Animal Rights Group to Stop Public Protests

July 23, 2025

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PRESS

Trader Joe’s Company Files Lawsuit Against Berkeley-Based Animal Rights Organization, Cites Trespassing

July 19, 2025

The Daily Californian

According to DxE lead organizer Almira Tanner, another lawsuit defendant, a 2023 DxE investigation into the Petaluma Poultry plant alleged that there were chickens that were severely sick and unable to get food or water. Additionally, the investigation claimed that there are decomposing animals in the facilities, diseased birds and inhumane slaughterhouse practices.

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PRESS

Trader Joe’s Company Files Lawsuit Against Berkeley-Based Animal Rights Organization, Cites Trespassing

July 19, 2025

The Daily Californian

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PRESS

SF-Berkeley Activists Superglue Bodies to LA Trader Joe's Chicken Cases as Protest War Escalates

July 16, 2025

Hoodline

Picture this: you're trying to buy organic chicken for dinner, and suddenly there are protesters with megaphones asking you to reconsider your protein choices. That's been the reality at Trader Joe's locations across California

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PRESS

SF-Berkeley Activists Superglue Bodies to LA Trader Joe's Chicken Cases as Protest War Escalates

July 16, 2025

Hoodline

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PRESS

Protesters Ask Kings County Officials to Investigate Vera Goat Dairy

July 15, 2025

ABC 30 Fresno

They are asking the District Attorney's Office to investigate conditions at Vera Goat Dairy in Stratford after a disturbing discovery the group says they made earlier this year. "Dead mother and baby goats are being thrown out like garbage in an illegal dead pile. We have documented Vera Dairy and have found these sick animals being neglected, denied medical care, being left to die," Direct Action Everywhere organizer Cassie King says.

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PRESS

Protesters Ask Kings County Officials to Investigate Vera Goat Dairy

July 15, 2025

ABC 30 Fresno

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PRESS

Trader Joe’s Seeks Injunction Against Animal Welfare Activists Entering California Stores

July 14, 2025

The Press Democrat

“We brought this to Trader Joe’s, but instead of listening, they blocked us, refused all dialogue, and hired powerful attorneys to try to shut us up,” Cabral said in a statement. “Customers have made it clear — they don’t want to be lied to. They want ethical products they can trust. So why won’t Trader Joe’s live up to the values they claim to hold?”

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PRESS

Trader Joe’s Seeks Injunction Against Animal Welfare Activists Entering California Stores

July 14, 2025

The Press Democrat

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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

Two cows freed themselves, but now they’re at risk of slaughter again.

August 3, 2022

Let this story be a reminder that animals do fight for their freedom and that they participate in their own liberation.

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BLOG

On the Anniversary of Unseen, We Came to Bear Witness

July 21, 2022

Activists gathered for a vigil exactly two years after the release of Unseen, a documentary that exposed the horrors inside Yosemite Foods, a slaughterhouse in Stockton, California, that kills 2,000 pigs every day.

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BLOG

What I learned from saving Chester – then watching him die

July 19, 2022

DxE co-founder Wayne Hsiung recently shared the story of a very sick pig who was rescued from Farmer John. This is an excerpt from his Substack blog, The Simple Heart.

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BLOG

Why I Disrupted Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest

July 5, 2022

Our signs read “Expose Smithfield’s Deathstar” referring to Smithfield’s Circle Four Farms in Milford, Utah, the largest pig farm in the country. While many criticized the tackiness and absurdity of the action, it garnered much needed media attention.

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BLOG

The largest pig slaughterhouse in California is shutting down.

July 2, 2022

Here's what this could mean.

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BLOG

Activists display massive 100 foot banner on overpass calling on Golden Gate Fields to shut down

June 25, 2022

The protest occurred after yet another horse was killed at the horse racing track that spans Berkeley and Albany.

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BLOG

DxE activists talk with Senator Cory Booker about upcoming Smithfield trial

June 25, 2022

Senator Booker spoke about the need for nonviolent direct action and for "not being spectators in democracy!"

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BLOG

As Farmer John Slaughterhouse Closes, Our Work Must Continue

June 14, 2022

As happy as I am to see Smithfield leave California, they should not be allowed to simply cut and run. They must adequately compensate their workers, provide appropriate care for their pigs, and clean up the damage done to the surrounding community and to the L.A. river.

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BLOG

Tulare County Dairy Farms Are Poisoning Latino Communities

May 20, 2022

Over the last few decades, the Central Valley of California has become plagued by the crisis of dirty drinking water contaminated with nitrates. Latino communities have been disproportionately affected. In the heart of the valley lies Tulare County, a majority Latino district and the largest dairy producing county in the nation.

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Our Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE

Animal Activist on Fox News Poses as Smithfield Foods CEO to Alert Public of Pig Farming’s Threat to Public Health

December 22, 2020

Imposter cites animal agriculture’s role in creating and spreading pandemics, and harms to the environment and animals

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Lay 333 Flowers at Farmer John Slaughterhouse, One for Each Infected Worker

December 10, 2020

Activists with Direct Action Everywhere are calling for a statewide moratorium on factory farms and slaughterhouses, citing animal and worker abuse

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PRESS RELEASE

Animal Activists Expose Site of COVID-19 Oregon Mink Outbreak, Defying State Officials' Secrecy

December 7, 2020

Citing mink-to-human transmission in Denmark, advocates say the public deserves transparency about the nature of the threat

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PRESS RELEASE

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

November 22, 2020

While Smithfield demands prison for Utah activists, this turkey farmer is helping them rescue more animals

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PRESS RELEASE

Following OSHA Fines, Activists Protest Factory Farms and Slaughterhouses Throughout California

November 17, 2020

Simultaneous protests at slaughterhouses and factory farms throughout CA demand moratorium prohibiting new factory farm and slaughterhouse construction

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PRESS RELEASE

19 Arrested at California State Capitol Building Protest Demanding Factory Farm Moratorium

October 1, 2020

Arrestees include photographers and videographers, as well as activists who chained themselves to the building

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PRESS RELEASE

UC Berkeley students holding dead piglets chain themselves to Sather Gate, following exposé of University pork supplier

August 25, 2020

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PRESS RELEASE

Woman Arrested After Spraying Pig Feces at Home of Smithfield CEO

August 7, 2020

Smithfield faces nuisance lawsuit judgements totaling hundreds of millions for waste pollution sprayed disproportionately on communities of color

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PRESS RELEASE

24 Hour Slaughterhouse Vigil Follows Release of Shocking Mini-Documentary

July 14, 2020

Rotting pig carcasses are seen being fed on by wild animals after workers cut infected flesh out of carcasses before selling them for human consumption

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