Activists Hold Funeral for Chickens Inside Trader Joe's, Decry "Cruel" Chicken Supplier

Contact: Cassie King, (510) 507-8075, cassie@directactioneverywhere.com

Activists with Direct Action Everywhere hold a funeral for the chickens killed at Petaluma Poultry and sold at Trader Joe’s, as Buddhist monk Robert Yamada leads a prayer for the chickens on Saturday, July 19, 2025. (Credit: Michelle Del Cueto)

PHOTOS & VIDEOS

July 19, 2025, OAKLAND, CA -- Today, around two dozen activists with the grassroots animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) held a 40-minute funeral for the chickens being sold inside the Trader Joe’s store located on College Avenue in Oakland. With eulogies and Buddhist prayers, they mourned the countless chickens who suffer and die at Trader Joe's "free-range," "organic" chicken supplier, Petaluma Poultry. The activists were dressed in black and carried flowers and photos of chickens at Petaluma Poultry. They also laid black cloth and flowers over the chicken bodies in the refrigerator. 

Petaluma Poultry is a "free range" and partially "organic" subsidiary of Perdue Foods, the fourth largest poultry producer in the United States. Trader Joe's sells Petaluma Poultry chicken (identified by USDA plant code P2882) in its own Trader Joe's-branded packaging.

Over the past seven years, DxE investigators have documented systemic animal abuse at Petaluma Poultry factory farms in Sonoma County and its slaughterhouse in Petaluma, CA, including:

• Birds suffering from infectious diseases that threaten public health

• Injured birds who were unable to walk to access food or water

• Evidence of birds who were scalded alive at the slaughterhouse

DxE says these findings demonstrate clear violations of California Penal Code Section 597, which prohibits subjecting an animal to “needless suffering” or inflicting “unnecessary cruelty upon the animal." 

"Today, we’re not just protesting — we’re grieving,” said DxE organizer Paul Darwin Picklesimer. “These animals are not products. They are individuals who felt pain and fear, and they deserved more than to be abused, killed, and packaged in false humane labels."

DxE activists have repeatedly emailed, called, and delivered physical letters to Trader Joe's headquarters in Monrovia, CA detailing the issues at Petaluma Poultry and urging the retailer to cut ties. Activists have also protested at dozens of Trader Joe's stores across the country in recent months. Celebrities, including Paris Hilton, have added their voices to the campaign, calling on Trader Joe's to cut ties with Perdue's Petaluma Poultry.

Earlier this month, Trader Joe's sued DxE, its SF Bay Area chapter, and five individuals in Alameda County Superior Court, seeking an injunction barring activists from using Trader Joe's property "as a forum for the expression of their views." The lawsuit describes animal rights protests at Trader Joe's locations in Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland, San Francisco, Sacramento, Petaluma, and Santa Rosa, where DxE activists urged Trader Joe's to cut ties with Perdue's Petaluma Poultry.

DxE investigator Zoe Rosenberg is facing a felony prosecution for openly rescuing four suffering birds from the Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse in June 2023. Her trial will begin September 15, 2025 in Santa Rosa.

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Investigators with Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) enter farms, slaughterhouses, and other facilities to document abuses and rescue sick and injured animals. DxE’s investigatory work has been featured in The New York Times, WIRED, and Vox. DxE activists have been subjected to FBI raids and felony prosecutions for their investigative work. In 2022, DxE activists won the first-ever acquittal in an open rescue case. Visit DxE on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and at directactioneverywhere.com .