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Jury Selection Begins for Activists Accused of Stealing Chickens from Foster Farms

March 7, 2023

ABC 30

Their supporters gathered outside the courthouse to urge the district attorney's office to focus on Foster Farms rather than the activists, who they believe had the right to rescue the animals.

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PRESS

Jury Selection Begins for Activists Accused of Stealing Chickens from Foster Farms

March 7, 2023

ABC 30

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PRESS

Merced Trial over ‘Rescue’ of Slaughterhouse-Bound Chickens Features ‘Baywatch’ Star as Accused, and Maybe Other Hollywood Actors

March 6, 2023

Davis Vanguard

A trial slated to start here in Merced County Superior Court March 7 is of the most unusual kind—first, one of the accused is a Hollywood actress who is itching for trial and has refused all plea offers; second, the case involves the “rescue” of chickens destined for a slaughterhouse; and, three, large corporate agricultural businesses are intimately involved.

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PRESS

Merced Trial over ‘Rescue’ of Slaughterhouse-Bound Chickens Features ‘Baywatch’ Star as Accused, and Maybe Other Hollywood Actors

March 6, 2023

Davis Vanguard

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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

Residents Protest Golden Gate Fields After Third Horse Death in 2023

March 4, 2023

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PRESS

In Wauwatosa, Residents and Animal Rights Activists Are Fighting the City over How to Deal with Nuisance Coyotes

March 2, 2023

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"(Coyotes) are a critical part of our urban ecology and ecosystem, so they can't be removed," said [protest organizer Megan] Scott. "I think we all need to coexist together. It's just natural, and you can't control one animal's destiny for your own benefit."

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PRESS

In Wauwatosa, Residents and Animal Rights Activists Are Fighting the City over How to Deal with Nuisance Coyotes

March 2, 2023

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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PRESS

Opinion: Who Decides Which Animals Deserve Love and Compassion and Which Ones Don’t?

February 27, 2023

Sonoma County Gazette

I wonder why we differentiate between a chicken that is a “pet” and a chicken that is in a factory farm. Both are equally capable of feeling love, joy, sorrow, and pain. Is it that one has been reduced to “poultry” – a commodity – rather than the living, breathing, sentient being that it really is?

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PRESS

Opinion: Who Decides Which Animals Deserve Love and Compassion and Which Ones Don’t?

February 27, 2023

Sonoma County Gazette

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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

Protesters Call Out Chick-Fil-A for Claiming “Humane” Standards While Sourcing from Animal Abusing Foster Farms

February 25, 2023

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PRESS

Judge Grants Subpoena of Foster Farms after Activist Chicken Rescue

February 22, 2023

Fox 26 News

The defense says Foster Farms will need to provide any evidence of condemned, diseased, or deceased chickens within the same flock the two birds were rescued from.

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PRESS

Judge Grants Subpoena of Foster Farms after Activist Chicken Rescue

February 22, 2023

Fox 26 News

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PRESS

Animal Rights Group Protests Foie Gras at Local Grocer Wild Fork

February 19, 2023

West Orlando News

The process of creating foie gras involves a method called “gavage,” wherein birds are repeatedly force-fed with metal pipes that are pushed down the throat and into the stomach. The constant injection of grain and fat makes the livers of ducks and geese swell to ten times the normal size. The state of California has banned the sale of foie gras, condemning the practice of gavage as barbaric and cruel.

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PRESS

Animal Rights Group Protests Foie Gras at Local Grocer Wild Fork

February 19, 2023

West Orlando News

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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

Protestors Call on Merced DA to Prosecute Documented Cruelty at Foster Farms Livingston Slaughterhouse

February 15, 2023

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Our Top Press Hits

TOP PRESS

She Took Chickens from a Slaughterhouse. Was It a Rescue or a Crime?

October 24, 2025

The Guardian

I asked Rosenberg what outcome she was hoping for. “My ideal outcome is honestly just whatever is best for the animals,” she said. “An acquittal wouldn’t set an actual legal precedent, but it would set a social precedent, to some extent, and send an important message.”

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TOP PRESS

UC Berkeley Activist Testifies She Saved Sick Birds, Not Stole Them, in Chicken Rescue Trial

October 17, 2025

San Francisco Chronicle

Before a jury in a Sonoma County courthouse, Rosenberg testified that she believed at the time that her actions, often called “open rescue,” were “lawfully justified” to prevent what she considered “criminal animal abuse” by Petaluma Poultry, a Sonoma-based operation owned by Perdue Farms, a major poultry supplier nationwide.

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TOP PRESS

How the FBI and Big Ag Started Treating Animal Rights Activists as Bioterrorists

June 2, 2025

The Intercept

“Animal rights and environmental groups have committed more acts of terrorism than Al Qaeda,” warned an FBI agent who met with Big Ag groups.

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TOP PRESS

This California Student Could Go to Prison for Taking Four Chickens. Was It a Crime or a ‘Rescue’?

May 1, 2025

San Francisco Chronicle

Just four months after she graduates on May 17 with a bachelor’s degree in social movement strategy, the straight-A student will stand trial in a Sonoma County courtroom for her June 2023 incursion into Petaluma Poultry, a processing facility owned by agribusiness giant Perdue Farms. If convicted for taking four chickens Perdue valued at around $24, she faces up to 5½ years in prison.

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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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DxE's Blog

BLOG

NEWS OF THE WEEK: Fur Sales Banned In San Francisco, Trophy Hunting Lawsuit, Mar. 16 – Mar. 23, 2018

March 23, 2018

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BLOG

NEWS OF THE WEEK: SF a step closer to fur ban, Trump USDA withdraws animal welfare regulation for organic farms – March 9 - March 16, 2018

March 18, 2018

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BLOG

NEWS OF THE WEEK: Smoking Orangutan Draws Outrage, Legislators Seek to Mandate Factory Farm Egg Sales – March 2 - March 9, 2018

March 10, 2018

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BLOG

NEWS OF THE WEEK: Vegan Solution To World Hunger, Rescued Pig Eaten, Feb. 26, 2018 – Mar. 2, 2018

March 2, 2018

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BLOG

“Does activism really make a difference?”

March 1, 2018

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BLOG

NEWS OF THE WEEK: Big Ag Attacks ‘Test Tube Burger,’ Animal Abusers Must Register, Feb. 20, 2018 – Feb. 26, 2018

February 27, 2018

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BLOG

How to Counter the "Humane Meat" Myth

February 22, 2018

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BLOG

NEWS OF THE WEEK: Vegan Skater Wins The Gold, Activists Protest At Westminster Dog Show, Feb. 13, 2018 – Feb. 19, 2018

February 20, 2018

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BLOG

NEWS OF THE WEEK: Pacelle Out At HSUS, Dog Meat At The Olympics, Feb. 7, 2018 – Feb. 12, 2018

February 13, 2018

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Our Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE

NY Congresswoman Calls on FBI to Investigate Animal Rescue

May 5, 2023

Congresswoman Claudia Tenney wants federal funds used to surveil people who support rescuing animals in distress.

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PRESS RELEASE

Sebastopol City Council Passes Historic Resolution to Support Factory Farm Investigators Facing Prison Time in Sonoma County

May 3, 2023

Animal rights activists are calling this a win for the right to rescue animals from abuse.

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PRESS RELEASE

Animal Rights Activist Found Guilty for Leafleting about Factory Farms

April 25, 2023

A Beaver County Judge convicted Curtis Vollmar of criminal trespass and disorderly conduct for talking to members of the public about Smithfield Foods.

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PRESS RELEASE

UC Law Summit Explores Impact and Implications of Historic Animal Rights Trial

April 24, 2023

The “Right to Rescue” is a hot topic after a California jury acquitted two activists who removed sick birds from a Foster Farms slaughter truck. Jurors, defendants, attorneys, and law professors gathered to discuss the verdict's meaning for laws related to corporate animal abuse, animal rescue, and animal personhood.

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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.

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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.

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