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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

GUILTY: Jury Convicts Animal Rights Activist Who Livestreamed Goat Rescue

December 5, 2021

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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

Thanksgiving Miracle: Utah Farmer Releases Turkeys to Whistleblowers Facing Felonies for Factory Farm Investigations

November 22, 2021

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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

San Francisco Supervisors Call for Statewide Factory Farm Moratorium

November 16, 2021

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BLOG

The trial of open rescue

November 10, 2021

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BLOG

The trial of open rescue

November 10, 2021

Seven years after founding the DxE Open Rescue Network, I finally go to trial. Here's why it matters.

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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

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

October 29, 2021

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BLOG

A Small Win for Activism in Sonoma County

October 28, 2021

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BLOG

A Small Win for Activism in Sonoma County

October 28, 2021

Following public outrage, the Sonoma County Farm Bureau cancelled their "Beyond the Fence Line" event intended to teach farmers how to "manage activists."

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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

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

October 27, 2021

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BLOG

The piglet who made it in The New York Times

October 27, 2021

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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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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

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

October 13, 2021

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Our Top Press Hits

TOP PRESS

These California and Colorado Ballot Measures Are Terrifying the Meat Industry

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.

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TOP PRESS

Secret Recordings Capture the Ugly Reality Inside a Denver Slaughterhouse

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.

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TOP PRESS

Sonoma Loves Its Farms. Activists Call Them Factories. Could a Ballot Measure Upend This County?

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.

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TOP PRESS

Groups Seek to Ban Large-Scale Animal Farming in Sonoma County

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.”

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TOP PRESS

An Animal-Rights Activist and the Problem of Political Despair

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.

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TOP PRESS

A California Town Will Vote on Banning Factory Farms. What Does That Mean for the Rest of the US?

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.

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TOP PRESS

You’re More Likely to Go to Prison for Exposing Animal Cruelty Than for Committing It

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.

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TOP PRESS

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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DxE's Blog

BLOG

Tulare County Dairy Farms Are Poisoning Latino Communities

May 20, 2022

Over the last few decades, the Central Valley of California has become plagued by the crisis of dirty drinking water contaminated with nitrates. Latino communities have been disproportionately affected. In the heart of the valley lies Tulare County, a majority Latino district and the largest dairy producing county in the nation.

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BLOG

The Case for Systemic Change

May 5, 2022

This is a response to a recent study by Faunalytics regarding the impacts of protest on diet change.

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BLOG

Glue, Chains, and Guts: A Recipe for Virality

April 14, 2022

High profile sporting events pose a significant opportunity to get eyeballs on a topic– if one is bold enough to risk criminal charges and bodily harm. And it's a tactic that has been used throughout history.

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BLOG

5 Tips for Time Management and Organization

February 2, 2022

Tip #1: You need an organizational system that you understand and use every day.

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BLOG

Stories to Inspire Part 3

January 8, 2022

These stories first appeared in a series of emails sent to DxE supporters in a countdown to 2022. The stories recap some of our biggest achievements in 2021, and also shine a light on some of the little details that don’t usually get the appreciation they deserve. We hope you find them as inspiring as we do.

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BLOG

Stories to Inspire Part 2

January 7, 2022

These stories first appeared in a series of emails sent to DxE supporters in a countdown to 2022. The stories recap some of our biggest achievements in 2021, and also shine a light on some of the little details that don’t usually get the appreciation they deserve. We hope you find them as inspiring as we do.

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BLOG

Stories to Inspire Part 1

January 6, 2022

These stories first appeared in a series of emails sent to DxE supporters in a countdown to 2022. The stories recap some of our biggest achievements in 2021, and also shine a light on some of the little details that don’t usually get the appreciation they deserve. We hope you find them as inspiring as we do.

Read More

BLOG

The trial of open rescue

November 10, 2021

Seven years after founding the DxE Open Rescue Network, I finally go to trial. Here's why it matters.

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BLOG

A Small Win for Activism in Sonoma County

October 28, 2021

Following public outrage, the Sonoma County Farm Bureau cancelled their "Beyond the Fence Line" event intended to teach farmers how to "manage activists."

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Our Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE

19 Arrested at California State Capitol Building Protest Demanding Factory Farm Moratorium

October 1, 2020

Arrestees include photographers and videographers, as well as activists who chained themselves to the building

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PRESS RELEASE

UC Berkeley students holding dead piglets chain themselves to Sather Gate, following exposé of University pork supplier

August 25, 2020

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PRESS RELEASE

Woman Arrested After Spraying Pig Feces at Home of Smithfield CEO

August 7, 2020

Smithfield faces nuisance lawsuit judgements totaling hundreds of millions for waste pollution sprayed disproportionately on communities of color

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PRESS RELEASE

24 Hour Slaughterhouse Vigil Follows Release of Shocking Mini-Documentary

July 14, 2020

Rotting pig carcasses are seen being fed on by wild animals after workers cut infected flesh out of carcasses before selling them for human consumption

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PRESS RELEASE

Animal Rights Protestors at SF City Hall Demand City Divest from Animal Agriculture, Citing Pandemic Disease Risk

July 3, 2020

Activists say proposal for partial divestment doesn’t go far enough

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PRESS RELEASE

Facing Prosecution, Animal Rights Group Seeks Court Order on Reyes' Funding Sources

June 23, 2020

Factory farm investigator alleges improper connections between Smithfield Inc. and Utah Attorney General

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PRESS RELEASE

“Roasting Pigs Alive” Exposé, Protest Campaign Culminates in Major Pork Supplier Ending Controversial “Ventilation Shutdown” Practice

June 5, 2020

Twelve activists now face charges, including felonies, as campaign seeks industry-wide ban

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PRESS RELEASE

Coordinated Nationwide Protests Against Smithfield Follow Outbreaks, Exposés and Prosecutions

April 15, 2020

Protesters of Smithfield slaughterhouses and vendors say it undermines the well-being of employees, animals, whistleblowers and the public

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PRESS RELEASE

Anti-Dairy Activist Arrested Following Latest Protest at Biden Event

March 5, 2020

Organizers now planning major demonstrations with 1000+ #LetDairyDie activists, calling on supporters nationwide to join

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