Whole Foods Goat Milk Supplier’s Cruelty Protested

VIDEO: Activists Protest Whole Foods Goat Milk Supplier’s Cruelty with Giant “Bloody” Milk Carton and “Die-In”

Animal rescuers speak at the protest; they face felony charges for rescuing two sick, emaciated baby goats from a Meyenberg goat dairy in Stratford last May. The rescuers have a pre-trial motions hearing on Tuesday.

Photos/Videos from the Protest

Key Video of the Rescue 

Key Video from the Investigation
(Credit: Direct Action Everywhere)

August 22, 2026, Berkeley, CA — Dozens of animal rights activists with Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) held a visual protest outside Whole Foods on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, calling on the retailer to stop selling Meyenberg Goat Milk due to animal cruelty and neglect behind the company’s “Certified Humane” label. In 2025, DxE investigators discovered that dozens of dead mother and baby goats were regularly being dumped into an illegal dead pile at a Meyenberg-supplying goat dairy in Stratford, CA. 

Meyenberg is the nation's largest goat milk producer. The specific farm, Vera Goat Dairy, confines 9,000 goats in barren lots without access to pasture. DxE investigators also found evidence of disease, emaciated animals, and workers handling animals roughly.   

The protest featured a 10-foot-tall milk carton prop modeled after Meyenberg packaging, but with an image of the dead pile of goats documented at Meyenberg’s Vera Goat Dairy and with red streamers symbolizing the animals’ blood flowing out from the top of the carton. 

Protesters held signs, chanted, and engaged customers entering the store. For several minutes, they performed a “die-in,” lying down on the ground around the milk carton to visually represent the pile of dead goats that was repeatedly documented at Meyenberg’s Vera Goat Dairy 

During the investigation, four DxE animal cruelty investigators openly rescued two sick baby goats. These four investigators, including two Bay Area residents, are now charged with felony grand theft, felony conspiracy, and misdemeanor trespass for rescuing the two goats and getting them to a veterinarian. The sick goats, whom rescuers named Celia and Phoebe, have made a full recovery and are living at an animal sanctuary.

Two of the rescuers, Carla Cabral and Joseph Allman, spoke at the protest, sharing their firsthand experience of the conditions they observed inside Meyenberg’s Vera Goat Dairy and what led to the rescue of the two sick goats.

“If Whole Foods customers saw the neglect that I saw inside this Meyenberg goat dairy, they would understand that the ‘humane’ label is a complete lie,” said Joseph Allman, a current felony defendant in the Meyenberg goat rescue case. “Most of us care deeply about animals, but that’s exactly why the industries that abuse them are so intent on deceiving us. I hope our investigation can help shed light and wake people up to the fact that animals always end up suffering when they are exploited for profit.”   

The four goat rescuers have a pre-trial hearing this Tuesday, August 25, 2026 at the Kings County Courthouse. Judge Jim Trevino will hear arguments on several motions filed by the defense, including a motion to reduce the felony charges to misdemeanors, supported by the evidence of animal cruelty that motivated the rescue. 

Find the full investigation press kit, including photos, video, and detailed information here.