News

Breaking news and publications from Direct Action Everywhere.

Media inquiry? Please email press@dxe.io.

Featured

All News

BLOG

Tips for Self-Care as an Activist

July 22, 2019

Read More

BLOG

Tips for Self-Care as an Activist

July 22, 2019

Read More

TOP PRESS

Protestors collect secret cash to oppose fur ban proposed in California, documents reveal

July 10, 2019

The Intercept

Read More

TOP PRESS

Protestors collect secret cash to oppose fur ban proposed in California, documents reveal

July 10, 2019

The Intercept

Read More

BLOG

Activists Return to Petaluma Slaughterhouse, Site of 79 Felony Arrests Last Month

July 5, 2019

Read More

BLOG

Activists Return to Petaluma Slaughterhouse, Site of 79 Felony Arrests Last Month

July 5, 2019

Read More

BLOG

I messed up. So did DxE.

June 18, 2019

Read More

BLOG

I messed up. So did DxE.

June 18, 2019

Read More

TOP PRESS

Meet the Animal Rights Activists Facing Prison Time for Rescuing Ducks, Piglets from Factory Farms

June 6, 2019

Democracy Now!

Read More

TOP PRESS

Meet the Animal Rights Activists Facing Prison Time for Rescuing Ducks, Piglets from Factory Farms

June 6, 2019

Democracy Now!

Read More

PRESS

A victory, of sorts, for pig activists

May 20, 2019

The Star

Read More

PRESS

A victory, of sorts, for pig activists

May 20, 2019

The Star

Read More

PRESS

Activists Feeding Animals Charged with Felonies

May 8, 2019

The Young Turks

Read More

PRESS

Activists Feeding Animals Charged with Felonies

May 8, 2019

The Young Turks

Read More

PRESS

All charges dropped against animal rights activist in pig farm break-in

May 1, 2019

CTV News

Read More

PRESS

All charges dropped against animal rights activist in pig farm break-in

May 1, 2019

CTV News

Read More

BLOG

Is the San Francisco Fur Ban Working?

January 15, 2019

Read More

BLOG

Is the San Francisco Fur Ban Working?

January 15, 2019

Read More

Our Top Press Hits

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

TOP PRESS

Activists Call It Rescue. Farms Call It Stealing. What Is ‘Open Rescue’?

August 7, 2023

National Geographic

These crusaders are part of the so-called “open rescue” movement, in which animal rights activists brazenly take animals from factory farm operations. Direct Action Everywhere—better known as DxE—is at the forefront of this movement in the United States...

Read More

DxE's Blog

BLOG

Why Race Matters (especially for Animal Rights Activists)

December 19, 2014

Read More

BLOG

How PETA’s Chinese “Dog Leather” Campaign Hurts Dogs (and Other Animals)

December 18, 2014

Read More

BLOG

Interview with John Sanbonmatsu, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute

December 16, 2014

Read More

BLOG

Why the HRC study of former vegetarians is wrong

December 12, 2014

Read More

BLOG

Respecting Gender Identity

December 11, 2014

Read More

BLOG

Motion to Introduce Bullhook Ban Passes After Seven-Hour Wait

December 10, 2014

Read More

BLOG

Low-Hanging Fruit: Political Appropriation of AR Sentiments

December 5, 2014

Read More

BLOG

On the Shoulders of Giants

December 1, 2014

Read More

BLOG

A Queer Vegan’s Déjà Vu

November 21, 2014

Read More

Our Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE

VIDEO: Chickens Survive “Roasting Alive” Mass Killing at Billionaire NBA Tycoon’s Factory Farm

April 11, 2022

Criminal complaints were submitted to Iowa Attorney General’s Office and county attorney, alleging criminal livestock neglect

Read More

PRESS RELEASE

VIDEO: UCB Students Present Satirical “Factory Farm Defender” Award to Chancellor Carol Christ

April 10, 2022

UCB administrators claim the world’s largest chicken producer doesn’t use factory farming

Read More

PRESS RELEASE

VIDEO: Animal Activist Superglues Herself to Table at California State Capitol, Disrupts Assembly Meeting

April 5, 2022

Bill for moratorium against new factory farms was changed into bill calling for a study of the industry’s impacts

Read More

PRESS RELEASE

100+ Attend State Capitol Rally Supporting Factory Farm Moratorium Bill

March 8, 2022

The coalition event featured attendees representing Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), Sunrise Bay Area and the CA Democratic Environmental Caucus.

Read More

PRESS RELEASE

Utah judge rules to gag evidence of cruelty, disease at Smithfield Foods in trial of prominent animal rights activist

February 23, 2022

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

Read More

PRESS RELEASE

California Assemblymember Introduces Moratorium on New Factory Farms and Slaughterhouses

February 20, 2022

California Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian (D-Van Nuys) introduced a bill Friday to enact a moratorium on new factory farms and slaughterhouses statewide. Assemblymember Alex Lee (D-San José) is a joint author on the bill, AB 2764.

Read More

PRESS RELEASE

BREAK UP WITH TYSON: UCB Students’ Valentines Day Protest Calls Out University Sourcing from Factory Farms

February 13, 2022

UC Berkeley administrators claim the world’s largest chicken producer doesn’t use factory farming

Read More

PRESS RELEASE

After Mass Pig Killing Case Dismissal, State Capitol Protesters Decry “Ag-Gag” Laws

January 21, 2022

Demonstrators allege widespread criminal animal abuse by Iowa Select Farms

Read More

PRESS RELEASE

Iowa “Ag-Gag” Prosecution Dismissed Against Man Who Exposed Mass Pig Killings

January 18, 2022

Prosecution moved to dismiss case in advance of hearing on expanding media access to trial

Read More