Activists Hold “No Thanks” Protest

During a 2022 investigation at a Foster Farms turkey farm in California, DxE investigators found dozens of baby turkeys collapsed on their backs, dead baby turkeys having their eyes and brains eaten by bugs, and buckets filled with dead bodies. Protesters at Wednesday’s demonstration displayed placards with photos from this investigation. Foster Farms is the largest poultry producer in California and a supplier to stores including Safeway, Walmart, and Target.

Over 40 million turkeys are slaughtered each year in the United States for Thanksgiving alone. 

This protest, titled “No Thanks for Stolen Lives on Stolen Land,” aimed to highlight the historic genocide of Indigenous people and the ongoing mass violence against turkeys for Thanksgiving. DxE says the day calls for protest, not celebration. 

“We cannot continue to ignore the suffering behind this holiday,” said Susana Chavez, a former slaughterhouse worker who attended the demonstration. “The violence against Indigenous people and the violence against animals share the same root: the belief that some lives matter less. We’re here to say that every life deserves protection.”

The protest follows the recent conviction of DxE animal cruelty investigator Zoe Rosenberg on felony conspiracy to commit misdemeanor trespass for her rescue of four suffering chickens from Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse. Her sentencing is December 3rd in Santa Rosa. After the protest at Safeway concluded, activists walked to nearby Trader Joe’s on College Avenue to again urge the retailer to drop Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry.

At trial, Ms. Rosenberg said that she became interested in the Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse after reading about high rates of diseases at the facility in a story from The Press Democrat in 2022. The court prevented Ms. Rosenberg from showing the jury photos of slaughterhouse documents, including a tally sheet indicating that 76 birds had entered the scalding tank while still alive in just one day.

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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.