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Animal Rights Activist on Trial Over Chickens Taken from Petaluma Slaughterhouse

October 18, 2025

ABC7 Bay Area

On Friday, Rosenberg took the stand. "This is not a who done it, and I am taking the stand and saying I did this, I rescued these birds. I entered this slaughterhouse, this is a why done it. What matters in this case is my intent and whether or not I had a good faith belief that what I did was legal and necessary to protect these birds," Rosenberg said.

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PRESS

Animal Rights Activist on Trial Over Chickens Taken from Petaluma Slaughterhouse

October 18, 2025

ABC7 Bay Area

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PRESS

Zoe Rosenberg Testifies She ‘Rescued’ Chickens, Not Committed Crimes, in Petaluma Poultry Case

October 17, 2025

The Press Democrat

“I’m grateful that (the chickens) were able to get the care that they need,” Rosenberg said when asked by her attorney, Chris Carraway, how she felt about the incident.

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PRESS

Zoe Rosenberg Testifies She ‘Rescued’ Chickens, Not Committed Crimes, in Petaluma Poultry Case

October 17, 2025

The Press Democrat

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BLOG

Perdue Rescue Trial Court Watch - Week 5: Oct 13th-17th, 2025

October 13, 2025

Updates and summaries from Week 5 of the Perdue Rescue Trial.

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Perdue Rescue Trial Court Watch - Week 5: Oct 13th-17th, 2025

October 13, 2025

Updates and summaries from Week 5 of the Perdue Rescue Trial.

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Perdue Rescue Trial Court Watch - Week 4: Oct 6th-10th, 2025

October 6, 2025

Updates and summaries from Week 4 of the Perdue Rescue Trial.

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Perdue Rescue Trial Court Watch - Week 4: Oct 6th-10th, 2025

October 6, 2025

Updates and summaries from Week 4 of the Perdue Rescue Trial.

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PRESS

Berkeley Grad’s Chicken ‘Rescue’ Trial Begins in Sonoma County with Question of Intent vs. Crime

October 6, 2025

San Francisco Chronicle

Though Rosenberg is technically the one on trial, they plan to force a deep review of the often-unsavory practices occurring at meat-processing facilities across the country.

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PRESS

Berkeley Grad’s Chicken ‘Rescue’ Trial Begins in Sonoma County with Question of Intent vs. Crime

October 6, 2025

San Francisco Chronicle

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PRESS

Activist or Criminal? Jury Hears Opening Arguments in Zoe Rosenberg Trial Over Poultry Farm Break-Ins

October 6, 2025

The Press Democrat

Opening statements began Monday in the Sonoma County trial of animal activist Zoe Rosenberg, whose defense hinges on whether jurors see her actions as a moral rescue or a criminal conspiracy.

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PRESS

Activist or Criminal? Jury Hears Opening Arguments in Zoe Rosenberg Trial Over Poultry Farm Break-Ins

October 6, 2025

The Press Democrat

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PRESS

Jury Selection Is Dragging on in Sonoma County Animal Activist’s Trial. Here’s Why

October 2, 2025

The Press Democrat

After more than two weeks of jury selection, attorneys are still working to seat a panel for animal activist Zoe Rosenberg’s felony conspiracy trial in Sonoma County Superior Court — a high-profile case that has required an unusually large pool of potential jurors.

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PRESS

Jury Selection Is Dragging on in Sonoma County Animal Activist’s Trial. Here’s Why

October 2, 2025

The Press Democrat

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PRESS

Opinion: San Diego Must Stop Subsidizing Animal Cruelty and Ban Rodeos

October 2, 2025

The San Diego Union Tribune

In the middle of the performance, a horse named Wako Kid bolted into a metal fence with a sickening thud. The crowd gasped as he crumpled to the ground, clearly gravely injured. It was horrifying, and it happened right in front of thousands of cheering spectators.

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PRESS

Opinion: San Diego Must Stop Subsidizing Animal Cruelty and Ban Rodeos

October 2, 2025

The San Diego Union Tribune

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BLOG

Perdue Rescue Trial Court Watch - Week 3: Sept 29th-Oct 3rd, 2025

September 29, 2025

Updates and summaries from Week 3 of the Perdue Rescue Trial.

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Perdue Rescue Trial Court Watch - Week 3: Sept 29th-Oct 3rd, 2025

September 29, 2025

Updates and summaries from Week 3 of the Perdue Rescue Trial.

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Our Top Press Hits

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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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TOP PRESS

Activists Call It Rescue. Farms Call It Stealing. What Is ‘Open Rescue’?

August 7, 2023

National Geographic

These crusaders are part of the so-called “open rescue” movement, in which animal rights activists brazenly take animals from factory farm operations. Direct Action Everywhere—better known as DxE—is at the forefront of this movement in the United States...

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TOP PRESS

Dangerous Pathogens and Cruelty Law Violations at Perdue Subsidiary, Animal Rights Report Alleges

June 13, 2023

The Intercept

In conjunction with the release of an undercover investigation on the factory farm, the group DxE mounted an “open rescue” of birds from a slaughterhouse.

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TOP PRESS

Opinion: Utah Undermined the Jury System to Shield Big Ag from Scrutiny

March 30, 2023

Salt Lake Tribune

If government agencies were taking these [investigative] reports seriously and protecting animals from cruelty, there would be no need for bills like this. But certain Utah legislators have decided that the real problem with sick, suffering animals is the potential for negative publicity for the industry and so it is the industry, not the animals, that need protection.

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TOP PRESS

The Fight Against Factory Farming Is Winning Criminal Trials

March 21, 2023

Vox

DxE’s theory — that when you show a jury of ordinary citizens what happens to animals in the meat industry, they’ll agree that they deserve rescue — turned out to be true, challenging the idea that the animal rights agenda is radical or unpopular.

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TOP PRESS

Former TV Star, Now a Chicken ‘Rescuer,’ Found Not Guilty of Foster Farms Theft

March 20, 2023

LA Times

“This is a victory for [the chickens] Ethan, Jax, and all other living beings subjected to abuse by corporations like Foster Farms,” Santurio said in a news release from Direct Action Everywhere. “I have so much love for the chickens in my family and I want all animals to experience that safety and respect.”

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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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DxE's Blog

BLOG

2023 Is Going to Be B.A.D.A.S.S.

January 28, 2023

In the first-ever Bay Area Direct Action Skill Share (B.A.D.A.S.S.), starting March 25, a cross-movement cohort of 100 activists will unite in Oakland for 5 days of intensive direct action training.

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BLOG

Inspiring Stories from 2022, Part 3

January 13, 2023

DxE Korea is unstoppable; disrupting the NBA playoffs gets people talking (and not just about sports); and a landmark verdict for the Right to Rescue

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BLOG

Inspiring Stories from 2022, Part 2

January 11, 2023

Keeping sanctuary animals safe; activists who saved chickens demand a date with the justice system; and Charlie, a piglet whose story touched thousands

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BLOG

Inspiring Stories from 2022, Part 1

January 10, 2023

Read how Dora saved herself, how "No More Factory Farms" was introduced as legislation in California, and why two brand-new activists decided to get loud for animal rights

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BLOG

Not Guilty by Reason of Humanity

December 13, 2022

The feeling of hearing those words “not guilty” after five long years of the uncertainty and judicial bureaucracy was indescribable. But mostly I felt proud. Proud of the jury, our legal team, and Direct Action Everywhere.

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BLOG

Court Update: The #SonomaTrial Is Finally on the Horizon

December 6, 2022

Preliminary hearings finally happened for Rachel and Jon. The prosecution argued that they were "co-conspirators" in the 2018 and 2019 rescues at Sonoma County factory farms. Judge Urioste agreed to send the case to trial on felony charges.

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BLOG

True Crime Stories: I Was Arrested for Filming a Protest

November 30, 2022

Corporations seem more concerned with shielding the practices of their suppliers from the public than with the cruelty and disease documented in those farms. They know that the public would be horrified if they saw the truth. But what these corporations don’t understand is that repression often makes movements stronger. I’m not going to stop talking about what happens to animals, and I’m not going to stop documenting protests.

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BLOG

DxE at the Animal and Vegan Advocacy Summit

November 24, 2022

Back in October, DxE's Lead Organizer Almira Tanner spoke at the inaugural AVA Summit. Check out her talk: Building a Mass Movement for Animals.

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BLOG

Three Lessons from the Smithfield Trial

November 7, 2022

Do your homework, get feedback, and find the simple story.

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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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