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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

Animal Rights News Recap 3/31/2017

March 31, 2017

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BLOG

VICTORY: Berkeley Unites to Keep Animal Rights Center Open

March 29, 2017

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BLOG

Animal Rights Activist Profile: Kristy Todd

March 29, 2017

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BLOG

Behind Farms' Closed Doors

March 28, 2017

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BLOG

Animal Rights News Recap 3/24/2017

March 24, 2017

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BLOG

Berkeley Animal Rights Center News (March)

March 23, 2017

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BLOG

Animal Rights Activist Profile: Tim Swartz

March 22, 2017

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BLOG

A River in New Zealand Has Just Been Granted Personhood! Is it Time to Extend the Same Courtesy to Animals?

March 17, 2017

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BLOG

Animal Rights News Recap 3/17/2017

March 17, 2017

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Our Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE

SF Giants MLB Game DISRUPTED By Animal Activists in YODA and DARTH VADER Costumes

July 31, 2022

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PRESS RELEASE

Supporters at “Vigil at Yosemiteville Horror” Event to Comfort Pigs Outside Slaughterhouse

July 14, 2022

Animal rights advocates gathered to mark the two-year anniversary of the release of Unseen, an undercover mini-documentary exposing extreme cruelty inside this facility, and to bear witness and spread compassion for its victims.

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PRESS RELEASE

Joey Chestnut HEADLOCKS Animal Activist in Darth Vader Costume During Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest

July 4, 2022

Investigators with same animal rights group face felony trial in September after rescuing piglets from a Smithfield Foods factory pig farm

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PRESS RELEASE

After Judge Rules to Exclude Animal Cruelty Evidence In Trial, Bay Area Felony Defendants March with Photos from Farm

June 18, 2022

Over 70 activists, including two Bay Area residents facing felony charges for rescuing piglets from a Smithfield factory farm in Milford, Utah, marched through the streets of San Francisco Saturday.

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PRESS RELEASE

Former Baywatch star enters “Not Guilty” plea in Foster Farms chicken rescue case

June 16, 2022

Alexandra Paul and Alicia Santurio, two members of Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), have been charged with theft in conjunction with a dramatic rescue of two chickens from a Foster Farms slaughter truck.

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PRESS RELEASE

Utah Capitol Protest Targets Attorney General After Judge Gags Evidence of Smithfield Foods’ Cruelty, Disease

May 23, 2022

Two defendants face years in prison after removing sick piglets from the largest factory pig farm in the U.S.

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PRESS RELEASE

Protesters Pursue and Loudly “Shame” CA Ag Committee Members on Streets of Sacramento Wednesday Afternoon

April 26, 2022

Bill for moratorium against new factory farms was killed by first Assembly committee set to consider it

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PRESS RELEASE

Protester Dressed as NBA Ref Runs on Court, Attempts to “Eject” and “Fine” Timberwolves Owner

April 22, 2022

Third disruption by animal rights activists this month follows exposé of chickens being “roasted alive” at team owner Glen Taylor’s factory farm

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PRESS RELEASE

BREAKING: Animal Activist Disrupts Minnesota Timberwolves NBA Play-in Game

April 15, 2022

Footage from Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor’s factory farm reveals chickens fully conscious after being “roasted alive” en masse

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