News

Breaking news and publications from Direct Action Everywhere.

Media inquiry? Please email press@dxe.io.

Featured

All News

PRESS RELEASE

Chicken Rescuers Acquitted in Historic “Right to Rescue” Case

April 16, 2023

A California jury found two women “not guilty” for rescuing sick birds from a Foster Farms slaughter truck.

Read More

PRESS RELEASE

Chicken Rescuers Acquitted in Historic “Right to Rescue” Case

April 16, 2023

Read More

PRESS

Animal Rights Advocates Protest Racehorse Death at Golden Gate Fields

April 15, 2023

CBS News Bay Area

The protest is "in tribute to the unconsenting athletes whose extreme stress, horrific injuries, and frequent deaths are, according to activists, downplayed by the profit-driven racing industry," said Cassie King, a member of the animal rights group.

Read More

PRESS

Animal Rights Advocates Protest Racehorse Death at Golden Gate Fields

April 15, 2023

CBS News Bay Area

Read More

PRESS

Πειραιάς: Διαμαρτυρία ακτιβιστών για τη σφαγή αμνοεριφίων το Πάσχα [Piraeus: Activists Protest against Easter Slaughter of Lambs]

April 14, 2023

Pontos News

Οι ακτιβιστές εισέβαλαν σε μεγάλο σουπερμάρκετ στον Πειραιά, έχυσαν κόκκινη μπογιά στις βιτρίνες του κρεοπωλείου, και αφού φώναξαν συνθήματα, πραγματοποίησαν καθιστή διαμαρτυρία, εμποδίζοντας την «πώληση νεκρών ζώων». [The activists stormed a large supermarket in Piraeus, poured red paint on the butcher's shop windows, and after shouting slogans, staged a seated protest, preventing the "sale of dead animals".]

Read More

PRESS

Πειραιάς: Διαμαρτυρία ακτιβιστών για τη σφαγή αμνοεριφίων το Πάσχα [Piraeus: Activists Protest against Easter Slaughter of Lambs]

April 14, 2023

Pontos News

Read More

PRESS

Toronto Store Is Getting Slammed by Protesters and It Isn't Even Open Yet

March 30, 2023

Blog TO

Several animal rights activists took issue with the storefront's graphics that were displayed through the window, which depicted pigs and an octopus.... Protestors were seen holding signs that read, "it's not food it's violence," while others were pictured painting the words "animals are not products" on newspapers taped onto the storefront.

Read More

PRESS

Toronto Store Is Getting Slammed by Protesters and It Isn't Even Open Yet

March 30, 2023

Blog TO

Read More

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.

Read More

TOP PRESS

Opinion: Utah Undermined the Jury System to Shield Big Ag from Scrutiny

March 30, 2023

Salt Lake Tribune

Read More

PRESS

Animal Activist Disrupts Moolah Shriners Circus, Gets Cuffed

March 28, 2023

Riverfront Times

Sydney Sager kept shouting "drop all animal acts" even while being pushed out of the ring. [Moolah Shriners Circus] has "a long list of violations, ranging from emaciated animals to terrorizing exotic animals with violent training."

Read More

PRESS

Animal Activist Disrupts Moolah Shriners Circus, Gets Cuffed

March 28, 2023

Riverfront Times

Read More

PRESS

The Circus Is Returning to St. Charles This Week. But the Elephants Aren’t.

March 23, 2023

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

At last year’s circus, Direct Action Everywhere tried to stop traffic at the Family Arena. On Thanksgiving, they marched in a parade downtown behind the Shriners’ tiny automobiles, chanting into bullhorns. “We were pretty consistent. They could not get away from us,” said activist Sasha Zemmel. “We just kept upping the antics.”

Read More

PRESS

The Circus Is Returning to St. Charles This Week. But the Elephants Aren’t.

March 23, 2023

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Read More

BLOG

Our 2023 Story

March 23, 2023

As we tear down the industry, we lift up animals. We show the world the violence that must be left in the past, and the beauty the future can hold.

Read More

BLOG

Our 2023 Story

March 23, 2023

We have the momentum and we cannot stop now. 2023 will bring more open rescues, more bold actions, and more trials. As we tear down the industry, we lift up animals. We show the world the violence that must be left in the past, and the beauty the future can hold.

Read More

PRESS

‘Baywatch’ Actress Alexandra Paul Found Not Guilty in Chickens Theft Case

March 22, 2023

Inside Edition

Paul and a companion ruffled feathers when they rescued two chickens on their way to a poultry food processing plant in California.

Read More

PRESS

‘Baywatch’ Actress Alexandra Paul Found Not Guilty in Chickens Theft Case

March 22, 2023

Inside Edition

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.”

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

DxE's Blog

BLOG

3 Ways You Can Help Us Save Tuesday's Siblings From Slaughter

December 4, 2017

Read More

BLOG

When I Was Arrested for an Animal Rights Protest

December 3, 2017

Read More

BLOG

NEWS OF THE WEEK: Animal Rights Film For Kids, Illinois Pushes To Get Tougher On Animal Abusers & More, Nov. 20 – Dec. 1, 2017

December 1, 2017

Read More

BLOG

The Con

November 22, 2017

Read More

BLOG

NEWS OF THE WEEK: Elephant Ban Remains, Activists Lose Appeal & More, Nov. 7 – 20, 2017

November 20, 2017

Read More

BLOG

NEWS OF THE WEEK: Pussy Riot Digs DxE, Mary’s Chickens Expands & More, Oct. 31 - Nov. 8, 2017

November 9, 2017

Read More

BLOG

NEWS OF THE WEEK: Call For Meat Ban in Sri Lanka, Berkeley Bans Fish Prizes & More, October 24 – 31, 2017

November 1, 2017

Read More

BLOG

NEWS OF THE WEEK: DxE Rescues Lamb, Quail & Bunny, Hiker Saves Rooster & More, October 17- 24, 2017

October 24, 2017

Read More

BLOG

NEWS OF THE WEEK: Chicken Council Wants To Speed Up Slaughter, Activists Work To Reverse Iowa Ag Gag & More – October 9-16, 2017

October 17, 2017

Read More

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.”

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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."

Read More