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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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PRESS RELEASE

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

June 10, 2025

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PRESS

Sonoma County Judge Upholds Free Speech Rights in Animal Rights Case

June 8, 2025

Davis Vanguard

Judge Gnoss’s ruling marks a significant moment in the case, reaffirming the role of free speech in legal proceedings involving public interest issues. As the trial approaches, Rosenberg’s prosecution continues to serve as a flashpoint for debates about animal rights, food safety, and the criminalization of activism.

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PRESS

Sonoma County Judge Upholds Free Speech Rights in Animal Rights Case

June 8, 2025

Davis Vanguard

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PRESS RELEASE

Judge Refuses to Gag Animal Rescuer

June 4, 2025

Describing the requested gag order as “overbroad and vague by any constitutional standard,” Judge Gnoss noted that Ms. Rosenberg’s critics, too, had participated in public discussion about her case, pointing by way of example to a statement by Bill Mattos, President of the California Poultry Federation, describing Ms. Rosenberg’s rescue of four chickens as a “terrorist act.”

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PRESS RELEASE

Judge Refuses to Gag Animal Rescuer

June 4, 2025

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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

How the FBI and Big Ag Started Treating Animal Rights Activists as Bioterrorists

June 2, 2025

The Intercept

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PRESS

Animal Rights Group Arrested for Taking Sick Goats from California Dairy Amid Abuse Claims

May 27, 2025

Fox 26 Fresno

Five activists a part of Direct Action Everywhere, were arrested for taking two sick baby goats from Meyenberg's Vera Goat Dairy in Stratford, police say. The members of the animal rights group rescued two sick baby goats from Vera Goat Dairy, a large operation supplying Meyenberg Dairy, the nation's leading goat milk producer. The goats showed signs of being sick with infections that affect breathing and sight.

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PRESS

Animal Rights Group Arrested for Taking Sick Goats from California Dairy Amid Abuse Claims

May 27, 2025

Fox 26 Fresno

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PRESS RELEASE

Five Activists Arrested after Rescuing Sick Baby Goats, Confronting Authorities at Whole Foods-Supplying Goat Dairy Recently Exposed for Violations Including a Massive Dead Pile

May 27, 2025

Tuesday's rescue follows a months-long investigation into Vera Goat Dairy by DxE earlier this year, which found that dozens of dead mother and baby goats are regularly dumped into an illegal dead pile on the property, indicating that the operation is experiencing high rates of mortality.

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PRESS RELEASE

Five Activists Arrested after Rescuing Sick Baby Goats, Confronting Authorities at Whole Foods-Supplying Goat Dairy Recently Exposed for Violations Including a Massive Dead Pile

May 27, 2025

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PRESS RELEASE

Hundreds March in Petaluma in Support of Animal Liberation

May 24, 2025

Approximately 200 activists with the animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) marched through downtown Petaluma Saturday afternoon in support of animal liberation and the right to rescue animals from abuse. They began at Penry Park and weaved through downtown including past diners at restaurants along the riverfront. Along the way, they chanted, delivered speeches, and handed out educational information to the public about Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse.

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PRESS RELEASE

Hundreds March in Petaluma in Support of Animal Liberation

May 24, 2025

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Rescue Wounded Chickens from Transport Truck at Perdue's Petaluma Poultry Slaughterhouse, Following Years of Documented Abuse and Disease

May 23, 2025

While the truck was stopped, three activists opened one of the many large crates holding chickens on the trailer and identified and removed two chickens with visible wounds. They took the chickens to get immediate medical care and shared footage of the rescue publicly, openly showing their faces.

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Rescue Wounded Chickens from Transport Truck at Perdue's Petaluma Poultry Slaughterhouse, Following Years of Documented Abuse and Disease

May 23, 2025

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PRESS RELEASE

Animal Rights Activists Protest at District Attorney’s House, Disrupt Parade; Week of Action Against Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry is Underway

May 19, 2025

Over the weekend, animal rights activists with Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) held protests across Sonoma County to elevate animal cruelty at Petaluma Poultry, a subsidiary of national poultry giant Perdue Foods. On Sunday, they delivered their message to Sonoma County District Attorney Carla Rodriguez with a protest outside her home in Windsor, urging her to finally prosecute Petaluma Poultry for documented criminal animal cruelty.

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PRESS RELEASE

Animal Rights Activists Protest at District Attorney’s House, Disrupt Parade; Week of Action Against Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry is Underway

May 19, 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

The Power of Symbolic Victories

August 12, 2021

Humans want to be on the winning team. Winning also gives those involved in the struggle a boost of motivation and efficacy.

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BLOG

Here's the plan for our next mass action

July 30, 2021

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BLOG

Covid Exposed the Brutal Reality of America’s Meat. And It’s Worse Than You Think.

June 22, 2021

Bloomberg columnist Adam Minter recently penned an article titled “Covid Almost Caused a Meat Crisis,” sounding the alarm about potential meat shortages. But the meat industry is itself a perpetual crisis, and Minter’s diagnosis of both problem and solution get it exactly wrong.

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BLOG

When Critical Stops Meaning Critical: The Expansion of Tennessee’s Critical Infrastructure Statute

June 15, 2021

The Tennessee legislature has passed a bill that would include farms in the definition of critical infrastructure. But at what cost?

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BLOG

Some Big Updates to DxE's Roadmap for Change

June 2, 2021

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BLOG

Do you suffer from imposter syndrome?

May 26, 2021

Research indicates that likely the best tactic to reduce the impact of imposter syndrome is talking about it.

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BLOG

Why we urgently need a moratorium on animal agriculture expansion

May 7, 2021

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BLOG

Happy dairy companies are lying to you

April 20, 2021

New investigation into Land O'Lakes shows routine violations of own animal welfare standards

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BLOG

How does a city become plant-based? You start by divesting from animal agriculture.

April 1, 2021

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Our Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE

Utah judge rules to gag evidence of cruelty, disease at Smithfield Foods in trial of prominent animal rights activist

February 23, 2022

Two defendants face years in prison after removing sick piglets from the largest factory pig farm in the U.S.

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PRESS RELEASE

California Assemblymember Introduces Moratorium on New Factory Farms and Slaughterhouses

February 20, 2022

California Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian (D-Van Nuys) introduced a bill Friday to enact a moratorium on new factory farms and slaughterhouses statewide. Assemblymember Alex Lee (D-San José) is a joint author on the bill, AB 2764.

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PRESS RELEASE

BREAK UP WITH TYSON: UCB Students’ Valentines Day Protest Calls Out University Sourcing from Factory Farms

February 13, 2022

UC Berkeley administrators claim the world’s largest chicken producer doesn’t use factory farming

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PRESS RELEASE

After Mass Pig Killing Case Dismissal, State Capitol Protesters Decry “Ag-Gag” Laws

January 21, 2022

Demonstrators allege widespread criminal animal abuse by Iowa Select Farms

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PRESS RELEASE

Iowa “Ag-Gag” Prosecution Dismissed Against Man Who Exposed Mass Pig Killings

January 18, 2022

Prosecution moved to dismiss case in advance of hearing on expanding media access to trial

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PRESS RELEASE

East Bay Residents Hold Memorial Demonstration for Horses Killed at Golden Gate Fields

December 11, 2021

26 horses have died at the facility this year

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PRESS RELEASE

GUILTY: Jury Convicts Animal Rights Activist Who Livestreamed Goat Rescue

December 5, 2021

Supporters say rescue of sick baby goat was an act of compassion

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Protest Petaluma Poultry Slaughterhouse with Giant Symbol and Banner for Rose’s Law

December 5, 2021

Protestors, including felony defendants, call for Rose’s Law: Animal Bill of Rights

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PRESS RELEASE

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

November 22, 2021

While Smithfield demands prison for Utah activists, this turkey farmer defends their actions, and is even helping them rescue more

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