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The largest pig slaughterhouse in California is shutting down.

July 2, 2022

Here's what this could mean.

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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

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

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

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 the cities of Berkeley and Albany.

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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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PRESS

Protestors stormed one of Toronto's expensive retail stores

June 20, 2022

blogTO

Fur Free Toronto and Direct Action Everywhere Toronto stormed Dior and Tiffany & Co. on Bloor West in Yorkville to try to put pressure on them to adopt a fur-free policy.

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PRESS

Protestors stormed one of Toronto's expensive retail stores

June 20, 2022

blogTO

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PRESS RELEASE

After Judge Rules to Exclude Animal Cruelty Evidence In Trial, Bay Area Felony Defendants March with Photos from Farm

June 18, 2022

Over 70 activists, including two Bay Area residents facing felony charges for rescuing piglets from a Smithfield factory farm in Milford, Utah, marched through the streets of San Francisco Saturday.

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PRESS RELEASE

After Judge Rules to Exclude Animal Cruelty Evidence In Trial, Bay Area Felony Defendants March with Photos from Farm

June 18, 2022

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PRESS RELEASE

Former Baywatch star enters “Not Guilty” plea in Foster Farms chicken rescue case

June 16, 2022

Alexandra Paul and Alicia Santurio, two members of Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), have been charged with theft in conjunction with a dramatic rescue of two chickens from a Foster Farms slaughter truck.

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PRESS RELEASE

Former Baywatch star enters “Not Guilty” plea in Foster Farms chicken rescue case

June 16, 2022

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PRESS

Three Restaurants Remove Foie Gras From Menu After Protests

June 14, 2022

NowThis

After repeated protests by activists, three Orlando restaurants have taken foie gras off of their menus.

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PRESS

Three Restaurants Remove Foie Gras From Menu After Protests

June 14, 2022

NowThis

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BLOG

As Farmer John Slaughterhouse Closes, Our Work Must Continue

June 14, 2022

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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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PRESS

3 Race Horses Die at Golden Gate Fields

June 1, 2022

Kron 4

“Humans can consent to run and risk injury. The horses do not, and when they get injured and can’t run anymore, they are killed,” said DxE organizer Paul Darwin Picklesimer.

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PRESS

3 Race Horses Die at Golden Gate Fields

June 1, 2022

Kron 4

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Our Top Press Hits

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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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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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

Residents Protest Golden Gate Fields After Third Horse Death in 2023

March 4, 2023

“The racing industry gives horses ridiculous names like “Big Laugh” because the suffering of these animals is just a game to them,” said DxE organizer Kitty Jones. “We give them respectful names because we see them as individuals worthy of respect.”

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PRESS RELEASE

Protesters Call Out Chick-Fil-A for Claiming “Humane” Standards While Sourcing from Animal Abusing Foster Farms

February 25, 2023

Referencing Chick-Fil-A’s history of oppression toward marginalized groups, activists say the company’s disregard for animals is part of a pattern.

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PRESS RELEASE

Protestors Call on Merced DA to Prosecute Documented Cruelty at Foster Farms Livingston Slaughterhouse

February 15, 2023

Citing practices that cause prolonged, terrifying, and painful deaths at Foster Farms’ killing facility, activists call for corporate accountability.

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PRESS RELEASE

Protesters Call for Closure of Primate Research Center at UC Davis, Citing Inhumane Practices, Federal Violations, and Failures of Animal Studies to Produce Relevant Results

January 26, 2023

More than 5,000 monkeys are confined at the center for use in research and breeding. Abusive methods cited by activists include the practice of withholding food and water until monkeys in research studies are so dehydrated they will perform tasks in order to be rewarded with minuscule amounts of food or water.

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Call on USDA to End Use of Gas Chambers, Delivering Undercover Footage of Pigs Being Gassed in Slaughterhouse

January 24, 2023

The footage shows pigs screaming, gasping, thrashing violently, and trying to escape as they descend into the pit of CO2 gas.

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PRESS RELEASE

International Animal Rights Network Re-Creates Dramatic First Protest to Celebrate 10 Years of Growth and Landmark Achievements

January 21, 2023

Saturday’s Bay Area demonstration was a nonviolent disruption of Sprouts Farmers Market, recreating DxE’s first-ever action but with a far larger assemblage than the seven activists who participated in 2013. As at the original action, activists delivered a slam poem describing how farm animals live and die while standing in the store’s “meat” section.

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PRESS RELEASE

First-Ever Footage inside a US Slaughterhouse Gas Chamber Obtained at Smithfield Foods

January 18, 2023

Investigator Raven Deerbrook recorded over 16 hours of footage from multiple angles, which shows pigs screaming, gasping, thrashing violently and trying to escape as they descend into the pit of CO2 gas. Former federal prosecutor Bonnie Klapper reviewed the video and determined that use of these devices on pigs violates federal law.

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PRESS RELEASE

Residents Hold Memorial Protest for 15 Horses Who Died at Golden Gate Fields in 2022

January 7, 2023

Activists installed images representing each horse who died in 2022 along the fence at I-80 and hung a 100-foot-long “Shut Down Golden Gate Fields” banner from the pedestrian bridge above I-80.

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PRESS RELEASE

Residents Protest Golden Gate Fields Following Deaths of Three Horses

December 3, 2022

“Humans can consent to run and risk injury. The horses do not, and when they get injured and can’t run anymore, they are killed."

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