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PRESS RELEASE

East Bay Residents Hold Memorial Demonstration for Horses Killed at Golden Gate Fields

December 11, 2021

26 horses have died at the facility this year

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PRESS RELEASE

East Bay Residents Hold Memorial Demonstration for Horses Killed at Golden Gate Fields

December 11, 2021

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TOP PRESS

Compassion Is Not a Crime: Animal Rights Activist Avoids Jail After Conviction for Baby Goat Rescue

December 8, 2021

Democracy Now!

In conversation with host Amy Goodman, DxE investigator Wayne Hsiung asks “Are the living creatures of this Earth property, or are they living creatures that deserve some form of dignity and respect?”

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TOP PRESS

Compassion Is Not a Crime: Animal Rights Activist Avoids Jail After Conviction for Baby Goat Rescue

December 8, 2021

Democracy Now!

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TOP PRESS

A US activist took a sick goat from a meat farm – now he faces seven years in jail

December 6, 2021

The Guardian

This case is about smashing the myth of benevolent small-scale farms, which may talk of free-range and happy animals, but still ultimately treat animals as property and slaughter them for profit.

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TOP PRESS

A US activist took a sick goat from a meat farm – now he faces seven years in jail

December 6, 2021

The Guardian

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Protest Petaluma Poultry Slaughterhouse with Giant Symbol and Banner for Rose’s Law

December 5, 2021

Protestors, including felony defendants, call for Rose’s Law: Animal Bill of Rights

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Protest Petaluma Poultry Slaughterhouse with Giant Symbol and Banner for Rose’s Law

December 5, 2021

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PRESS RELEASE

GUILTY: Jury Convicts Animal Rights Activist Who Livestreamed Goat Rescue

December 5, 2021

Supporters say rescue of sick baby goat was an act of compassion

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PRESS RELEASE

GUILTY: Jury Convicts Animal Rights Activist Who Livestreamed Goat Rescue

December 5, 2021

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PRESS RELEASE

Thanksgiving Miracle: Utah Farmer Releases Turkeys to Whistleblowers Facing Felonies for Factory Farm Investigations

November 22, 2021

While Smithfield demands prison for Utah activists, this turkey farmer defends their actions, and is even helping them rescue more

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PRESS RELEASE

Thanksgiving Miracle: Utah Farmer Releases Turkeys to Whistleblowers Facing Felonies for Factory Farm Investigations

November 22, 2021

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PRESS RELEASE

San Francisco Supervisors Call for Statewide Factory Farm Moratorium

November 16, 2021

“No More Factory Farms” campaign asks legislators to prohibit the construction of new factory farms and slaughterhouses

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PRESS RELEASE

San Francisco Supervisors Call for Statewide Factory Farm Moratorium

November 16, 2021

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BLOG

The trial of open rescue

November 10, 2021

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BLOG

The trial of open rescue

November 10, 2021

Seven years after founding the DxE Open Rescue Network, I finally go to trial. Here's why it matters.

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PRESS RELEASE

SF In-N-Out Protested with Creepy 16-Foot “Squid Game” Doll, Dozens of Actors Simulating Murderous Game

October 29, 2021

“Red Light, Green Light” demonstration inspired by hit show dramatizes activists’ concerns about animal cruelty and supply chain transparency

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PRESS RELEASE

SF In-N-Out Protested with Creepy 16-Foot “Squid Game” Doll, Dozens of Actors Simulating Murderous Game

October 29, 2021

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Our Top Press Hits

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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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...

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TOP PRESS

Dangerous Pathogens and Cruelty Law Violations at Perdue Subsidiary, Animal Rights Report Alleges

June 13, 2023

The Intercept

In conjunction with the release of an undercover investigation on the factory farm, the group DxE mounted an “open rescue” of birds from a slaughterhouse.

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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.

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DxE's Blog

BLOG

NEWS OF THE WEEK: Blow To Military Research on Dogs, Pet Store Refuses To Sell Easter Bunnies, Mar. 24 – Mar. 30, 2018

March 30, 2018

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BLOG

Gun Violence: Striking at the (Speciesist) Roots

March 29, 2018

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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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Our Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE

11 Peaceful Demonstrators Remain in Custody on $100,000 Bond Each, Following Protest at Chick-fil-A Supplying Slaughterhouse

September 27, 2021

Just-released hidden camera footage from inside the Foster Farms facility reveals fully-conscious animals routinely being improperly slaughtered -- conduct activists allege is criminal

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PRESS RELEASE

Animal Activist Fools Newsmax on Live TV, Posing as Tyson Foods CEO to Promote “Roasting Pigs Alive”

September 2, 2021

Imposter disavowed nonviolent animal rights activists as“terrorists”

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PRESS RELEASE

UC Berkeley Students Cover Sproul Hall Steps in Fake Blood, Protesting University’s Factory Farm Purchasing

August 24, 2021

Student-led investigation into UCB chicken supplier Tyson Foods shines new light on administration’s erroneous claims that it doesn’t supply from factory farms

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PRESS RELEASE

Following IPCC Climate Report, Berkeley Activists Slam Governor Newsom’s Wildfire Photo Op

August 8, 2021

Group behind Berkeley vegan transition bill says Newsom’s inaction on environmental impact of animal agriculture is unacceptable

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Drop Banner From Roof of In-N-Out, Demanding the Company Cease Supplying From Factory Farms

August 6, 2021

California residents want the the company to disclose supplier information, citing animal abuse and environmental destruction

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PRESS RELEASE

Berkeley Becomes First U.S. City to Commit to Exclusively Plant-Based Food Purchases

July 26, 2021

Berkeley City Council passed a resolution late Tuesday to switch 50% of city expenditures on animal-based foods to plant-based by 2024, and commit to a long-term goal of 100% plant-based.

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Held Rally at City Hall After 18 Hour Sit-In at Berkeley Mayor’s House

July 20, 2021

Activists want to keep the pressure on Mayor Arreguin’s climate commitments

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Doused in Fake Blood, Locked in Cages Demand Neiman Marcus Drop Fur

June 26, 2021

Chanting activists entered the store holding placards while others rallied outside

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PRESS RELEASE

Activists Held Rally at Berkeley Mayor’s House, Demanding City Divest from Animal Agriculture

June 14, 2021

Berkeley residents say Mayor Arreguín broke his commitment to support their divestment proposal

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