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Opinion: I’m Facing 20 Years in Prison for Rescuing Animals

December 20, 2023

TruthDig

For the 1,000-plus lives I’ve saved, I’ve mostly received praise from the general public and from public officials. As a result of my rescue work, I was invited to deliver a TED talk when I was 15. But in Sonoma County, I’m being called a terrorist for saving criminally abused chickens and ducks from suffering and painful death. What are we supposed to do, as concerned members of the public, when law enforcement fails to help animals in need of aid?

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PRESS

Opinion: I’m Facing 20 Years in Prison for Rescuing Animals

December 20, 2023

TruthDig

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PRESS

Letter to Editor: Factory Farm Risks

December 20, 2023

Press Democrat

Blaming those who expose flaws is a disservice to public health. Let’s redirect focus toward transparency and advocating for humane and health-conscious farming practices.

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PRESS

Letter to Editor: Factory Farm Risks

December 20, 2023

Press Democrat

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PRESS

What Would It Mean to Treat Animals Fairly?

December 16, 2023

New Yorker

The enduring challenge for any activist is both to dream of almost-unimaginable justice and to make the case to nonbelievers that your dreams are practical. The problem is particularly acute in animal-rights activism.

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PRESS

What Would It Mean to Treat Animals Fairly?

December 16, 2023

New Yorker

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PRESS

Letter to Editor: Unsustainable Agriculture

December 15, 2023

Press Democrat

All animals are thinking sentient beings and deserve a natural life. Animal agriculture pollutes land and water. It is a significant contributor to climate change. And it's really bad for the hapless slaughtered animals.

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PRESS

Letter to Editor: Unsustainable Agriculture

December 15, 2023

Press Democrat

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PRESS

Animal Rights Activist Wayne Hsiung Faces Jail Time for Nonviolent Animal Rescues

December 13, 2023

One Green Planet

The sentencing also includes a prohibition on any form of contact with his co-conspirators, a list that includes close friends and co-defendants in an upcoming trial related to a beagle rescue.

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PRESS

Animal Rights Activist Wayne Hsiung Faces Jail Time for Nonviolent Animal Rescues

December 13, 2023

One Green Planet

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PRESS

"Right to Rescue" Could Be Advanced by California Felony Conviction

December 8, 2023

Food Safety News

[Hsiung's] law license is not necessarily at risk, and his conviction and sentence appeal are an opportunity to argue that people can enter the property and remove exploited or distressed animals.

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PRESS

"Right to Rescue" Could Be Advanced by California Felony Conviction

December 8, 2023

Food Safety News

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PRESS

3 More DxE Animal Rights Activists Arrested in Sonoma County, California

December 4, 2023

Unchained TV

[Arrestee Zoe] Rosenberg has since publicly declared, “I want the world to know that I am not afraid, because nothing the legal system can do to me, including depriving me of a (medical) device I rely on to survive, will ever compare to the atrocities that take place every day…” in the animal factories she investigates.

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PRESS

3 More DxE Animal Rights Activists Arrested in Sonoma County, California

December 4, 2023

Unchained TV

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BLOG

I’m Facing over 20 Years in Prison for Rescuing Animals, But I Am Not Afraid

December 2, 2023

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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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PRESS

Chinese Lawyer Convicted of Trespassing on Farm to Save Animals Was Sentenced by Judge

December 1, 2023

KTSF26

The defendant's father, Xiong Hansheng, said: "I think it's unfair, he didn't commit a crime, he just wanted to protect animals, so I'm a little disappointed, but I also feel that I hope Wayne's behavior can make many animals more protected."

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PRESS

Chinese Lawyer Convicted of Trespassing on Farm to Save Animals Was Sentenced by Judge

December 1, 2023

KTSF26

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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

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

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

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

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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PRESS RELEASE

San Francisco Supervisors Call for Statewide Factory Farm Moratorium

November 16, 2021

“No More Factory Farms” campaign asks legislators to prohibit the construction of new factory farms and slaughterhouses

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PRESS RELEASE

SF In-N-Out Protested with Creepy 16-Foot “Squid Game” Doll, Dozens of Actors Simulating Murderous Game

October 29, 2021

“Red Light, Green Light” demonstration inspired by hit show dramatizes activists’ concerns about animal cruelty and supply chain transparency

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PRESS RELEASE

TYSON IS SCARY: UCB Students Protest University Sourcing from “Family” Factory Farms

October 27, 2021

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

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PRESS RELEASE

Case Dismissed Against Protester Who Sprayed Pig Feces at Smithfield CEO’s Home

October 13, 2021

Company has faced nuisance lawsuits for waste pollution sprayed on local communities, resulting in hundreds of millions in judgements against it

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PRESS RELEASE

BREAKING: 9 Activists Arrested After Locking Down, Dumping Wildfire Debris at Gov. Newsom’s House

September 28, 2021

11 peaceful activists from the same group are still in custody on over $1 million total bail, following California slaughterhouse blockade Tuesday

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