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PRESS

Utah seeks to block animal rights activists from justifying factory farm break-in

June 28, 2021

Fox 13 Salt Lake City

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PRESS

Utah seeks to block animal rights activists from justifying factory farm break-in

June 28, 2021

Fox 13 Salt Lake City

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Doused in Fake Blood, Locked in Cages Demand Neiman Marcus Drop Fur

June 26, 2021

Chanting activists entered the store holding placards while others rallied outside

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Doused in Fake Blood, Locked in Cages Demand Neiman Marcus Drop Fur

June 26, 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

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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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PRESS

Direct Action Everywhere holds rally outside Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín’s house

June 22, 2021

The Daily Californian

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PRESS

Direct Action Everywhere holds rally outside Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín’s house

June 22, 2021

The Daily Californian

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BLOG

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

June 15, 2021

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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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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Held Rally at Berkeley Mayor’s House, Demanding City Divest from Animal Agriculture

June 14, 2021

Berkeley residents say Mayor Arreguín broke his commitment to support their divestment proposal

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Held Rally at Berkeley Mayor’s House, Demanding City Divest from Animal Agriculture

June 14, 2021

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BLOG

Some Big Updates to DxE's Roadmap for Change

June 2, 2021

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BLOG

Some Big Updates to DxE's Roadmap for Change

June 2, 2021

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PRESS RELEASE

State Capitol Demonstration Saturday Demands Factory Farm Moratorium

May 28, 2021

3-day occupation at Governor Newsom’s home culminated with march to State Capitol building for “No More Factory Farms” rally

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PRESS RELEASE

State Capitol Demonstration Saturday Demands Factory Farm Moratorium

May 28, 2021

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BLOG

Do you suffer from imposter syndrome?

May 26, 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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Our Top Press Hits

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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TOP PRESS

A California Town Will Vote on Banning Factory Farms. What Does That Mean for the Rest of the US?

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.

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TOP PRESS

You’re More Likely to Go to Prison for Exposing Animal Cruelty Than for Committing It

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.

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TOP PRESS

This Is the Ops Manual for the Most Tech-Savvy Animal Liberation Group in the US

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.

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TOP PRESS

Animal Rights Activist Convicted of Felony for Rescuing Sick Chickens

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.

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DxE's Blog

BLOG

Believing Is the First Step to Animal Liberation

September 10, 2024

If people do not believe that they can change a situation, they will never act to do so. If we do not believe that animal liberation is possible and that we can make it happen, it never will. In fact, animal agriculture and other unjust systems rely on our hopelessness and cynicism.

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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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Our Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE

State Capitol Demonstration Saturday Demands Factory Farm Moratorium

May 28, 2021

3-day occupation at Governor Newsom’s home culminated with march to State Capitol building for “No More Factory Farms” rally

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PRESS RELEASE

BREAKING: Animal Rights Activist Disrupts Preakness Stakes Trophy Presentation

May 14, 2021

Group currently being sued by billionaire track owners calls for end to horse racing, citing animal cruelty

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PRESS RELEASE

UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza Fountain Dyed Blood Red After Chancellor and Director of Dining Defend Sourcing from Tyson Foods

May 9, 2021

University administrators falsely claim agribusiness giant isn’t engaged in factory farming, according to students

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PRESS RELEASE

Following UC Berkeley Dining Facility Lockdown, Students Secure Meeting with Chancellor

April 9, 2021

Citing animal cruelty exposés, activists demand the university stop supplying from factory farms

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PRESS RELEASE

Land O’ Lakes Dairy Exposé Reveals Freezing Calves, Widespread Violations of Company Policy and the Law

April 5, 2021

Workers seen dragging newborn calves by their ears

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PRESS RELEASE

24-Hour Demonstration Underway at Gavin Newsom’s House, Featuring Giant Newsom Head

March 24, 2021

Activists are calling for Newsom to enact a statewide moratorium on factory farms and slaughterhouses

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists in Coalinga with 50-foot Banner and Giant Gavin Newsom Head Protest Harris Ranch

March 5, 2021

Following exposé with workers cutting the throats of fully-conscious cows, demonstrators demand moratorium banning new factory farms and slaughterhouses

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PRESS RELEASE

BREAKING: Chained Activists Occupy California Horse Racing Track, Stopping Thursday’s Races

March 3, 2021

4 Bay Area residents locked down at Berkeley’s Golden Gate Fields horse racing facility, using heavily-weighted PVC pipes in a direct action maneuver called a “sleeping dragon.”

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PRESS RELEASE

Fully Conscious Cows’ Throats Slit in First-Ever Footage Inside Costco-Supplying Slaughterhouse

March 2, 2021

Graphic hidden-camera footage DxE investigators obtained inside Harris Beef in Selma, CA reveals cows systematically restrained and killed with a slice to the throat while fully conscious.

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