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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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PRESS

Amador Alum Superglues Hand to Trader Joe’s Poultry Section as Part of Animal Rights Demonstration in Pasadena

July 14, 2025

Pleasanton Weekly

On July 2, a group of roughly 20 activists associated with the animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere occupied the original Trader Joe’s store located at 610 S. Arroyo Pkwy. in Pasadena. The group held banners and signs while delivering speeches in front of the poultry section of the store and the checkout aisle alleging how Petaluma Poultry — a food manufacturing company based in Petaluma — has systematically abused animals in its factory farms and slaughterhouse.

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PRESS

Amador Alum Superglues Hand to Trader Joe’s Poultry Section as Part of Animal Rights Demonstration in Pasadena

July 14, 2025

Pleasanton Weekly

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PRESS

Trump Administration Suing California Over Egg Standards That They Say Raise Prices

July 9, 2025

ABC7 Bay Area

"This is an attack on California that could hurt everyone in the country, including millions and millions of animals who are living in these facilities and already have so few protections," King said.

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PRESS

Trump Administration Suing California Over Egg Standards That They Say Raise Prices

July 9, 2025

ABC7 Bay Area

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PRESS

‘The Chickens Are Not Fine’: Chaos Erupts at California Trader Joe’s

July 9, 2025

SF Gate

“It is absurd that I’m being charged with felony vandalism,” Kandada said in the DxE’s July 3 news release. “The refrigerator is perfectly fine, my hand is fine, but the chickens are not fine.”

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PRESS

‘The Chickens Are Not Fine’: Chaos Erupts at California Trader Joe’s

July 9, 2025

SF Gate

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BLOG

I'm Going Into Trial With No Legal Defenses. I Still Have Hope.

July 9, 2025

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BLOG

I'm Going Into Trial With No Legal Defenses. I Still Have Hope.

July 9, 2025

Judge Gnoss’s ruling is simply another disturbing reminder that our legal system values money over living, breathing beings with personalities, thoughts and feelings.

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Our Top Press Hits

TOP PRESS

‘Baywatch’s’ Alexandra Paul on Trial; Video Shows ‘Open Rescue’ of Foster Farms Chickens

March 9, 2023

LA Times

“We published this video within an hour with both my name and Alicia Santurio’s name attached to it because we believe what we’re doing is legal and morally right,” Paul said in an interview with The Times.

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TOP PRESS

Opinion: Rescuing Farm Animals from Cruelty Should Be Legal

February 14, 2023

New York Times

In any context other than factory farming, treating animals the way we see chickens treated in the Foster Farms slaughterhouse videos would be considered blatant cruelty. Many would also consider it cruel to stand by while someone else handled animals this way. “If there’s someone in my neighborhood watching me boil birds alive, we’d say this is monstrous behavior,” Wayne Hsiung, a founder of DxE, told me.

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TOP PRESS

I Snuck into a California Slaughterhouse to Film How They Kill Pigs. It Was Horrifying

February 9, 2023

San Francisco Chronicle

The message the pigs conveyed in the gas chamber footage is clear: They are in extreme pain, and they want to live. You don’t need the Agriculture Department to tell you that. You can see and hear it for yourself.

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TOP PRESS

Opinion: Spy Cams Show What the Pork Industry Tries to Hide

February 2, 2023

New York Times

“It was horrible cruelty to the pigs inside the chambers,” Jim Reynolds told me. “It’s a violation of federal law.” Reynolds is one of 90 veterinarians who signed an open letter saying that the process shown in the videos probably violates federal law on humane slaughter.

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TOP PRESS

Spy Cams Reveal the Grim Reality of Slaughterhouse Gas Chambers

January 18, 2023

Wired

Animal rights activists have captured the first hidden-camera video from inside a carbon dioxide “stunning chamber” in a US meatpacking plant.

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TOP PRESS

What Is an Animal’s Life Worth?

October 25, 2022

Vox

The pigs’ essentially zero value is baked into the meat industry’s business model... 15 percent of piglets die before they’re finished weaning. The pork industry may slaughter over 125 million pigs a year, but they breed far more, knowing many will die from disease and injury.

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TOP PRESS

I Did Not Steal Two Piglets. I Saved Them. A Jury Agreed.

October 18, 2022

New York Times

During the closing statements in the trial, in which I represented myself, I told jurors that a not-guilty verdict would encourage corporations to treat animals under their care with more compassion and make governments more open to animal cruelty complaints.

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TOP PRESS

Right to Rescue: Jury Acquits Animal Rights Activists Who Saved Piglets at Smithfield Factory Farm

October 11, 2022

Democracy Now!

In a major victory for animal rights, a jury in Utah has acquitted two animal rights activists who each faced up to five and a half years of prison time for rescuing two sick piglets from Smithfield’s Circle Four Farms, one of the world’s largest pig farms.

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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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DxE's Blog

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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BLOG

The Case for Systemic Change

May 5, 2022

This is a response to a recent study by Faunalytics regarding the impacts of protest on diet change.

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Our Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE

Animal Rights Activists March in Petaluma During Felony Animal Rescue Trial

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."

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PRESS RELEASE

Felony Animal Rescue Trial Begins

September 15, 2025

Zoe Rosenberg, 23, is charged with felony conspiracy and 3 misdemeanors for rescuing chickens from Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse

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PRESS RELEASE

Animal Rights Activists Stage Large “Boat” in Creative Protest Urging Trader Joe’s to Drop Petaluma Poultry

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

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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 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

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

Activist Charged with Felony Vandalism for Supergluing Hand to Trader Joe's Fridge Protesting Animal Cruelty

July 3, 2025

Ani Kandada superglued down inside Trader Joe's original store in Pasadena asking the retailer to stop selling chickens from Perdue's Petaluma Poultry, just hours after another animal rights activist was arrested for supergluing her hand inside Trader Joe's Headquarters in Monrovia, CA.

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PRESS RELEASE

Activist Arrested After Supergluing Herself at Trader Joe's Headquarters, as Tensions Rise Over Controversial Chicken Supplier

July 3, 2025

Carla Cabral remained superglued to the desk from approximately 10AM to approximately 11AM, while she demanded a meeting with company executives about documented animal cruelty at Trader Joe's chicken supplier, Petaluma Poultry, which is a subsidiary of national agribusiness giant Perdue Foods.

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PRESS RELEASE

VIDEO: Animal Activists Disrupt CA Poultry Federation Board Meeting, Present Award for "Biggest Animal Abuser"

June 10, 2025

Animal rights activists with DxE disrupted multiple events at the Summer Board Meeting of the California Poultry Federation, a trade association representing commercial chicken and turkey producers across the state. Among CPF's twenty board members are three executives from Petaluma Poultry, the California subsidiary of national poultry giant Perdue Foods, where DxE investigators have documented widespread violations of animal cruelty laws since 2018.

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