Breaking news and publications from Direct Action Everywhere.
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TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
October 9, 2024
The Intercept
PRESS
November 6, 2023
Berkeleyside
The proposed ordinance states, “CAFOs are a leading cause of environmental destruction, pose grave risks to public health, abuse and kill nonhuman animals, and often create dangerous and exploitative conditions for workers.”
PRESS
November 6, 2023
Berkeleyside
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
November 4, 2023
The Intercept
PRESS
November 3, 2023
Davis Vanguard
DxE said Hsiung “plans to appeal the conviction in Sonoma based on several rulings by Judge Laura Passaglia that constitute prejudicial and reversible error, including the exclusion of almost all photo and video evidence showing animal cruelty at the factory farms where the rescues occurred.”
PRESS
November 3, 2023
Davis Vanguard
PRESS
November 3, 2023
Sentient Media
On top of the gag order, Passaglia consistently barred the defendants from introducing what could have been damning evidence — specifically the name and symptoms of a deadly disease spreading on the duck farm, and much of their footage capturing conditions where animals are housed.
PRESS
November 3, 2023
Sentient Media
PRESS
November 2, 2023
Northern California Public Media
Hsiung’s supporters, many with the group Direct Action Everywhere, expressed shock by Thursday’s verdict, many fighting back tears and wishing Hsiung well as he was taken for processing at Sonoma County's Main Adult Detention Facility.
PRESS
November 2, 2023
Northern California Public Media
PRESS
November 2, 2023
Press Democrat
The group, Direct Action Everywhere, has been investigating animal cruelty at the two farms where protests occurred while the trial went on, organizer Zoe Rosenberg told reporters. They sought to file what they said is evidence they have gathered with DA Carla Rodriguez, who, according to Rosenberg, had indicated to the group that she would consider an investigation of their claims after the trial concluded.
PRESS
November 2, 2023
Press Democrat
PRESS
October 27, 2023
KRON4 News
On Saturday afternoon, animal rights advocates with Direct Action Everywhere and Stop Bloodsports will gather outside the Golden Gate Fields for a demonstration calling out the horseracing industry and memorializing horses who died at the track this fall.
PRESS
October 26, 2023
Northern California Public Media
On Wednesday, jurors asked two questions seeking legal clarifications related to the case, but a verdict was not reached. The defendant's committed group of supporters, mostly associated with the group Direct Action Everywhere, were once again camped out in front of the court, holding signs and standing in wait for the trial’s outcome.
PRESS
October 26, 2023
Northern California Public Media
PRESS
October 25, 2023
Davis Vanguard
Hsiung was indeed transparent in his closing, telling the jury, “We did what we did because 11 days before the rescue effort at Sunrise, I saw this bird, half blind, unable to move away, unable to even jump up two feet to reach food and water and I left her to die. When I left her to die, that broke my heart.”
PRESS
October 25, 2023
Davis Vanguard
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
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.”
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
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.
TOP PRESS
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.
BLOG
June 29, 2020
Workers forced to kill thousands of pigs with extreme heat and steam
BLOG
June 11, 2020
Investigators say “ventilation shutdown” is criminal livestock neglect as pigs are “roasted alive”
BLOG
June 9, 2020
Bay Area residents face criminal charges after rescuing dying animals from Sonoma County factory farms
BLOG
May 12, 2020
An Unfiltered Q&A With A Publication That’s Planning An “Exposé” Of DxE
BLOG
May 8, 2020
How money and drugs corrupted the story of a pig farmer who was prosecuted for saving his pigs.
BLOG
April 18, 2020
Protesters of Smithfield slaughterhouses and vendors say it undermines the well-being of employees, animals, whistleblowers and the public
BLOG
March 29, 2020
BLOG
March 24, 2020
PRESS RELEASE
February 14, 2021
The activists said they are drawing attention to Smithfield's heartless attitude
PRESS RELEASE
January 28, 2021
Grundy County Attorney Cites Iowa Select Farms’ refusal to testify as cause for dismissal
PRESS RELEASE
January 11, 2021
Group that hoaxed Fox News on live TV last month also behind today’s demonstration
PRESS RELEASE
January 10, 2021
Grundy County Attorney Cites Iowa Select Farms’ refusal to testify as cause for dismissal
PRESS RELEASE
December 22, 2020
Imposter cites animal agriculture’s role in creating and spreading pandemics, and harms to the environment and animals
PRESS RELEASE
December 10, 2020
Activists with Direct Action Everywhere are calling for a statewide moratorium on factory farms and slaughterhouses, citing animal and worker abuse
PRESS RELEASE
December 7, 2020
Citing mink-to-human transmission in Denmark, advocates say the public deserves transparency about the nature of the threat
PRESS RELEASE
November 22, 2020
While Smithfield demands prison for Utah activists, this turkey farmer is helping them rescue more animals
PRESS RELEASE
November 17, 2020
Simultaneous protests at slaughterhouses and factory farms throughout CA demand moratorium prohibiting new factory farm and slaughterhouse construction
