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Delays Continue in Criminal Case of Animal Activists Accused of Taking Chickens from Petaluma Poultry Farms

November 15, 2022

The Press Democrat

They argue that their efforts to rescue chickens are authorized under California’s animal cruelty law.

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PRESS

Delays Continue in Criminal Case of Animal Activists Accused of Taking Chickens from Petaluma Poultry Farms

November 15, 2022

The Press Democrat

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PRESS RELEASE

After Acquittal for Smithfield Foods, Whistleblowers and Activists Protest Costco’s Continued Sale of Smithfield Pork

November 12, 2022

The two factory farm investigators who were found “not guilty” last month joined the protest.

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PRESS RELEASE

After Acquittal for Smithfield Foods, Whistleblowers and Activists Protest Costco’s Continued Sale of Smithfield Pork

November 12, 2022

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PRESS RELEASE

Investigation Finds Sick Turkey Chicks among Litter Beetle- and Larvae-Infested Corpses at Foster Farms

November 10, 2022

Rescued turkey chick had an infection called omphalitis caused by E. coli.

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PRESS RELEASE

Investigation Finds Sick Turkey Chicks among Litter Beetle- and Larvae-Infested Corpses at Foster Farms

November 10, 2022

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BLOG

Three Lessons from the Smithfield Trial

November 7, 2022

Do your homework, get feedback, and find the simple story.

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BLOG

Three Lessons from the Smithfield Trial

November 7, 2022

Do your homework, get feedback, and find the simple story.

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PRESS

Activists March Through Downtown Orlando Demanding Justice for Animals

November 3, 2022

West Orlando News

With plant-based food companies on the rise, fur bans increasing in number, and animal welfare regulations growing stricter in many states, to say that a sort of societal evolution is taking place would not be a far reach.

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PRESS

Activists March Through Downtown Orlando Demanding Justice for Animals

November 3, 2022

West Orlando News

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TOP PRESS

What Is an Animal’s Life Worth?

October 25, 2022

Vox

The pigs’ essentially zero value is baked into the meat industry’s business model... 15 percent of piglets die before they’re finished weaning. The pork industry may slaughter over 125 million pigs a year, but they breed far more, knowing many will die from disease and injury.

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TOP PRESS

What Is an Animal’s Life Worth?

October 25, 2022

Vox

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TOP PRESS

I Did Not Steal Two Piglets. I Saved Them. A Jury Agreed.

October 18, 2022

New York Times

During the closing statements in the trial, in which I represented myself, I told jurors that a not-guilty verdict would encourage corporations to treat animals under their care with more compassion and make governments more open to animal cruelty complaints.

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TOP PRESS

I Did Not Steal Two Piglets. I Saved Them. A Jury Agreed.

October 18, 2022

New York Times

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PRESS

FBI Defeated in Historic Victory for Animal Rights Activists

October 11, 2022

Breaking Points

Krystal and Saagar take a detailed look at how animal rights activists won against the FBI in a landmark trial.

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PRESS

FBI Defeated in Historic Victory for Animal Rights Activists

October 11, 2022

Breaking Points

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TOP PRESS

Right to Rescue: Jury Acquits Animal Rights Activists Who Saved Piglets at Smithfield Factory Farm

October 11, 2022

Democracy Now!

In a major victory for animal rights, a jury in Utah has acquitted two animal rights activists who each faced up to five and a half years of prison time for rescuing two sick piglets from Smithfield’s Circle Four Farms, one of the world’s largest pig farms.

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TOP PRESS

Right to Rescue: Jury Acquits Animal Rights Activists Who Saved Piglets at Smithfield Factory Farm

October 11, 2022

Democracy Now!

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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

“They dumped a live baby in a graveyard!” - Three Women Charged with Grand Theft after Police Seize Dying Calf from their Arms

October 23, 2018

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BLOG

Know Your Rights and Stay Safe as an Activist

September 2, 2018

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BLOG

DxE News of the Week: DXE PROTESTS IN GERMANY, CANADA AND INDIA, August 24 - August 30, 2018

August 31, 2018

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BLOG

DxE News of the Week: Felony Charges Filed Against DxE Organizer Sierra Post In North Carolina, August 17 – August 23, 2018

August 27, 2018

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BLOG

DxE News of the Week: PUBLIC SUPPORTS DXE’S EFFORTS TO HELP DONKEYS IN ITALY, L.A. READY TO BAN FUR, August 10 – August 16, 2018

August 22, 2018

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BLOG

DxE News of the Week: DXE ACTIVISTS RETURN TO SMITHFIELD FARM; EATING CHICKEN CAN MAKE PEOPLE SICK, August 3-August 9, 2018

August 11, 2018

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BLOG

DxE News of the Week: DXE MARCH AGAINST BIG AG IN PETALUMA, July 27-August 2, 2018

August 4, 2018

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BLOG

DxE News of the Week: DXE MARCH AGAINST BIG AG IN PETALUMA, TRUMP HURTS ANIMAL AG, July 20-26, 2018

July 28, 2018

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BLOG

DxE News of the Week: FORMER USDA INSPECTORS CONFIRM DXE’S NORBEST INVESTIGATION RESULTS; NORTH CAROLINA POLICE HAVE MONITORED DXE, July 13 -19, 2018

July 21, 2018

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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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