Breaking news and publications from Direct Action Everywhere.
Media inquiry? Please email press@dxe.io.
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
October 9, 2024
The Intercept
PRESS
April 18, 2024
Isthmus
The petition from [Wayne] Hsiung and Dane4Dogs, later amended to include more supporting testimonials from veterinarians and animal welfare groups, argues that the appointment of a special prosecutor is warranted “because of Ridglan Farms’ ongoing, flagrant criminal conduct; because the welfare of thousands of beagle victims depends upon it; and because the interests of justice and the rule of law require that no one, even a corporation in a powerful industry, is above the law.”
PRESS
April 18, 2024
Isthmus
PRESS
April 17, 2024
Press Democrat
When I rescued two neglected ducks from the Reichardt factory farm in Petaluma last year, I was arrested on felonies and called a terrorist. When Santa Rosa firefighters rescued ducklings from a storm drain, they were celebrated (“Santa Rosa firefighters save ducklings from storm drain,” pressdemocrat.com).
PRESS
April 4, 2024
Isthmus
Madison-based nonprofit Dane4Dogs and [former defendant] Wayne Hsiung... filed a petition to appoint a special prosecutor to charge the facility, Ridglan Farms, for what they said were violations of Wisconsin laws against animal abuse. “The facts presented in this petition…would unquestionably be criminal animal abuse if undertaken by an ordinary citizen,” reads the petition. “The question facing this court is whether, after years of governmental inaction, corporations also will be held accountable to the law.”
TOP PRESS
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.”
TOP PRESS
April 4, 2024
Los Angeles Times
PRESS
March 28, 2024
Plant Based News
“Sonoma County is a beautiful place with strong values around protecting animals and the environment. Unfortunately, dozens of factory farms are operating counter to the public’s values,” DxE communications lead Cassie King told Plant Based News (PBN). “Now, ordinary people are uniting and utilizing a form of direct democracy to end factory farming in Sonoma County.”
PRESS
March 28, 2024
Plant Based News
PRESS
March 27, 2024
Press Democrat
“Our key volunteers are all local,” [supporter Kristina] Garfinkel said. “As a local myself, this is such an important issue. I’m from Santa Rosa. I drive by these CAFOs every day and smell the air. We do have support from other regional partners. CAFOs are a ubiquitous problem, so of course it will draw interest from other groups.”
PRESS
March 27, 2024
Press Democrat
PRESS
March 21, 2024
The Bulwark
[Defendant Wayne Hsiung said] the dismissal affirmed something he and his co-defendants “always knew to be true,” namely: “If a jury of our peers heard testimony and saw the videos from inside Ridglan Farms, they would revolt against the notion that we’re the ones who have committed crimes, rather than the company.”
PRESS
March 18, 2024
WKOW.com
"I think most Americans, most people in Wisconsin, want dogs to be protected from torture," said beagle rescuer Wayne Hsiung. "That's not happening right now."
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
March 15, 2024
The New Yorker
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
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.”
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
January 30, 2024
The Guardian
If successful in Berkeley, a liberal San Francisco Bay Area town that’s often been at the forefront of US environmental policy, the method can be replicated elsewhere, [activists] say. “We can pave the path to abolishing factory farming,” said Cassie King, an organizer with Direct Action Everywhere, one of the groups that pushed for the measure.
TOP PRESS
November 9, 2023
Vox
Hsiung’s trial and conviction show the extraordinary difficulty of trying to discuss what happens to animals on factory farms in a legal system that only sees them as property. At both factory farms in this case, DxE had documented gruesome conditions prior to their open rescue actions and had submitted animal cruelty complaints to authorities (though no action was taken by legal officials, King said). Yet it was the activists, not the farm owners, who were criminally charged and had to explain themselves to a jury.
TOP PRESS
November 8, 2023
Wired
For the first time, guerrilla animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere reveals a guide to its investigative tactics and toolkit, from spy cams to night vision and drones. Bernier says that DxE decided to publicly release its guide, even in the wake of Hsiung’s conviction, to help activists who are already committed to carrying out covert investigations do their work more safely and effectively.
TOP PRESS
November 4, 2023
The Intercept
Hsiung’s defense was in many ways stymied from the jump. The judge barred almost all photo and video evidence of animal cruelty from the trial, as has been the case in a number of previous DxE trials. As I’ve previously noted, the decision to disallow such evidence is usually made to benefit a defendant — not showing gruesome images of a murder victim, for example. Such logic has been flipped in DxE cases, including Hsiung’s most recent, to the benefit of powerful agribusiness.
PRESS RELEASE
December 14, 2024
Activists covered in fake blood lay down on a giant “plate” to bring attention to the violence behind serving dead animals as food during the holidays. Protestors also called on Safeway to cut ties with Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry, where undercover investigations have exposed sick and injured animals left without care.
PRESS RELEASE
November 12, 2024
A coalition of groups, including the Berkeley-based animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) and Compassionate Bay, led the effort to gather the signatures to get this CAFO ban on the ballot.
PRESS RELEASE
November 1, 2024
Zoe Rosenberg, 22, faces criminal charges for rescuing chickens from Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse in Petaluma, CA
PRESS RELEASE
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
PRESS RELEASE
August 20, 2024
Charges to be Dismissed for Third Time in Perdue Chicken Rescue Case
PRESS RELEASE
August 15, 2024
Animal rights activists with Direct Action Everywhere disrupted Florence at events across the country in recent months calling for the move
PRESS RELEASE
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.”
PRESS RELEASE
July 19, 2024
The Ramona factory farm was the site of a 2019 animal cruelty investigation by Direct Action Everywhere
PRESS RELEASE
May 13, 2024
Berkeley student in Perdue poultry case now faces 1 felony and 3 misdemeanors
