Feature Archives

The Animal Legal Defense Fund sent cease and desist notices to California restaurants and retailers that appear to continue selling foie gras despite a state ban on the sale of this cruelly-produced “gourmet” delicacy made from the liver of a duck or goose. Over the past two months, the Animal Legal Defense Fund has received dozens of tips and reports from concerned citizens identifying California restaurants and retailers that appear to be flouting the foie gras law.

Over 170 activists with the animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere marched through downtown Santa Rosa on March 30. The crowd chanted as they walked, with several stops for singing and speeches, before concluding at Santa Rosa City Hall. The march highlighted what activists call criminal animal cruelty on factory farms throughout Sonoma county, which has been reported to local authorities. No enforcement action has been taken. Authorities have, however, prosecuted activists who have investigated the farms, with six currently facing seven Sonoma county felony charges each.

Since 2003, Vallejo has paid out at least $10.1 million related to police misconduct. And the civil rights violations keep piling up. On January 22, Adrian Burrell was assaulted by Vallejo police while video recording a traffic stop. On February 9, six Vallejo police officers shot Willie McCoy to death after they found him asleep in a Taco Bell drive-through. Family members and allies touched by the death of Willie McCoy gathered outside the Taco Bell where he was killed to remember him and protest the police on February 16 and 17.

On January 19, at women's marches throughout the Bay Area, the focus was on unity rather than the rift in the national group. Optimism was abundant despite a slight decrease in attendance over last year. The marches were not without critics who cited a lack of attention to the plight of the underhoused and other issues effecting women. Unlike the city of New York where there were two separate marches, however, a spirit of solidarity ruled the day. The largest marches in the Bay Area were in San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, and Santa Cruz.

Andy Lopez was killed by Sonoma County Sheriff's deputy Erick Gelhaus on October 22, 2013. Five years later, on December 18, 2018, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors reached a settlement with Andy's parents for $3 million. Earlier in the year, a $3.5 million park was built in Andy’s honor in his Santa Rosa neighborhood. Activists, the community, and his family and friends never stopped demanding justice for Andy Lopez.

Kevin Cooper is an African-American man who was wrongly convicted of murder in 1985. He has been on death row at San Quentin for decades. On December 24, 2018, Governor Jerry Brown ordered new DNA testing. Kevin Cooper responds: I am happy that we have finally “won” something from some entity in this state. But after learning what exactly outgoing Gov. Brown wrote... I am not as excited as I was at first, or should be.

Despite a court-imposed restraining order, a week of protests animal rights activists dubbed "Occupy Whole Foods" proceeded as planned on September 23-29. On the final day, a mass vigil and sit-in was held inside an industrial shed at McCoy’s Poultry factory farm in Petaluma which supplies chicken to Amazon Fresh. Activists set up an emergency medical care tent and gave aid to the sick and starving animals they liberated. Fifty-eight people were arrested. On November 2, four of them were arraigned on a total of seven felony charges each.