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Judge Axes ‘Necessity Defense’ in Chicken Rescue Case, But Rules in Defense Favor Otherwise

March 10, 2023

Davis Vanguard

A potentially historic trial for establishing animal rights involving a former “Baywatch” and movie actress moved along – albeit slowly – in Merced County Superior Court this week as jury selection dragged into Friday, and Judge Paul Lo made several key rulings that could change the course of the proceedings.

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PRESS

Judge Axes ‘Necessity Defense’ in Chicken Rescue Case, But Rules in Defense Favor Otherwise

March 10, 2023

Davis Vanguard

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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

‘Baywatch’s’ Alexandra Paul on Trial; Video Shows ‘Open Rescue’ of Foster Farms Chickens

March 9, 2023

LA Times

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PRESS

Jury Selection Begins for Activists Accused of Stealing Chickens from Foster Farms

March 7, 2023

ABC 30

Their supporters gathered outside the courthouse to urge the district attorney's office to focus on Foster Farms rather than the activists, who they believe had the right to rescue the animals.

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PRESS

Jury Selection Begins for Activists Accused of Stealing Chickens from Foster Farms

March 7, 2023

ABC 30

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PRESS

Merced Trial over ‘Rescue’ of Slaughterhouse-Bound Chickens Features ‘Baywatch’ Star as Accused, and Maybe Other Hollywood Actors

March 6, 2023

Davis Vanguard

A trial slated to start here in Merced County Superior Court March 7 is of the most unusual kind—first, one of the accused is a Hollywood actress who is itching for trial and has refused all plea offers; second, the case involves the “rescue” of chickens destined for a slaughterhouse; and, three, large corporate agricultural businesses are intimately involved.

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PRESS

Merced Trial over ‘Rescue’ of Slaughterhouse-Bound Chickens Features ‘Baywatch’ Star as Accused, and Maybe Other Hollywood Actors

March 6, 2023

Davis Vanguard

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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

Residents Protest Golden Gate Fields After Third Horse Death in 2023

March 4, 2023

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PRESS

In Wauwatosa, Residents and Animal Rights Activists Are Fighting the City over How to Deal with Nuisance Coyotes

March 2, 2023

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"(Coyotes) are a critical part of our urban ecology and ecosystem, so they can't be removed," said [protest organizer Megan] Scott. "I think we all need to coexist together. It's just natural, and you can't control one animal's destiny for your own benefit."

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PRESS

In Wauwatosa, Residents and Animal Rights Activists Are Fighting the City over How to Deal with Nuisance Coyotes

March 2, 2023

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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PRESS

Opinion: Who Decides Which Animals Deserve Love and Compassion and Which Ones Don’t?

February 27, 2023

Sonoma County Gazette

I wonder why we differentiate between a chicken that is a “pet” and a chicken that is in a factory farm. Both are equally capable of feeling love, joy, sorrow, and pain. Is it that one has been reduced to “poultry” – a commodity – rather than the living, breathing, sentient being that it really is?

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PRESS

Opinion: Who Decides Which Animals Deserve Love and Compassion and Which Ones Don’t?

February 27, 2023

Sonoma County Gazette

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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

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

February 25, 2023

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PRESS

Judge Grants Subpoena of Foster Farms after Activist Chicken Rescue

February 22, 2023

Fox 26 News

The defense says Foster Farms will need to provide any evidence of condemned, diseased, or deceased chickens within the same flock the two birds were rescued from.

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PRESS

Judge Grants Subpoena of Foster Farms after Activist Chicken Rescue

February 22, 2023

Fox 26 News

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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

The piglet who made it in The New York Times

October 27, 2021

A legal fight over pig crates in North Carolina ended this year. But the rescue of a piglet shows that the struggle has just begun.

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BLOG

The Power of Symbolic Victories

August 12, 2021

Humans want to be on the winning team. Winning also gives those involved in the struggle a boost of motivation and efficacy.

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BLOG

Here's the plan for our next mass action

July 30, 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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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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BLOG

Some Big Updates to DxE's Roadmap for Change

June 2, 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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BLOG

Why we urgently need a moratorium on animal agriculture expansion

May 7, 2021

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BLOG

Happy dairy companies are lying to you

April 20, 2021

New investigation into Land O'Lakes shows routine violations of own animal welfare standards

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Our Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE

Activists Disrupt Food Network Chef Tyler Florence’s Restaurant, Over Ties to Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry

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.”

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PRESS RELEASE

Judge Dismisses Multiple Felonies Against Animal Rescuer

May 13, 2024

Berkeley student in Perdue poultry case now faces 1 felony and 3 misdemeanors

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PRESS RELEASE

Felony Charges Dismissed Against Beagle Rescuers

March 8, 2024

Today, in a stunning development, the State of Wisconsin moved to dismiss charges against three animal rights activists accused of rescuing three beagles from Ridglan Farms, one of the last two remaining large breeders of dogs for vivisection in the country. Judge Mario White granted the dismissal at a hearing this morning.

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Ask Stanford to Never Again Buy Research Subjects from Abusive Dog Breeder

February 27, 2024

The demonstration highlighted the horrifying conditions in which Ridglan Farms confines thousands of beagles for experimentation... The action featured speeches from Stanford alumni and a former Stanford researcher.

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Evoke “Chicken Run” in Retelling of Real-Life Rescues

January 27, 2024

Playing with characters and plot elements from the new film Chicken Run 2: Dawn of the Nugget, the protest featured “Zoe Rosenbird” coming to the rescue of sick, injured chickens and transforming the operation that tortured them into an animal sanctuary.

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PRESS RELEASE

Activist Sentenced to Jail for Rescuing Sick Animals from Factory Farms

November 30, 2023

The University of Denver’s Animal Activist Legal Defense Project is working on the appeal. Attorney Chris Carraway said, “I often hear courts describe trials as a search for the truth. Mr. Hsiung’s trial was anything but. The press had limited access; trial participants were unconstitutionally gagged from the beginning; and the court bent over backwards to prevent the defense from detailing the chronic animal cruelty found which informed the intent behind the actions."

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PRESS RELEASE

Berkeley Factory Farm Ban Qualifies for November 2024 Election

October 19, 2023

“The thousands of signatures we’ve collected this summer are a testament to how enthusiastic the people of Berkeley are about disassociating with these cruel industries that run counter to our values,” says Berkeley resident and DxE organizer Kitty Jones. “It is high time we move past a system of industrialized exploitation of animals.”

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Submit Required Signatures to Put Factory Farm Ban on Ballot

September 5, 2023

Activists say voter enthusiasm is high for a ban on factory farms in Berkeley after submitting more than 4,900 signatures to the Berkeley city clerk today, a large overshoot beyond the 3,000 required to get the measure on the ballot.

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PRESS RELEASE

Factory Farm Ban Likely to Be on Ballot After Activists Gather Required Signatures

August 1, 2023

"The vast majority of Berkeley voters that we've talked to care about animals and the planet and are eager to sign on to this initiative,” says Almira Tanner, lead organizer of DxE.

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