Activists Occupy "Free Range" Amazon Chicken Supplier, Remove Dozens of Dead or Dying Animals

September 29, 2018, Petaluma, CA — Activists with the grassroots animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) are currently executing a vigil and sit-in inside an industrial shed at a Petaluma, California factory farm which supplies chicken to Amazon Fresh. Citing grisly undercover footage of sick and starving birds that DxE says amounts to criminal animal cruelty, and supported by the legal opinion of a criminal law scholar, activists have set up an emergency medical care tent inside the factory farm and are giving aid to sick and starving animals.

Many chickens were removed a huge shed on the farm and provided preliminary veterinary care at an on-site medical tent, before being transported to an undisclosed animal sanctuary for lifetime care. The activists say they took the action to highlight both corporate and government inaction in the face of animal cruelty.

Chicken from the Petaluma Poultry farm is marketed by Perdue as free range, and has made national headlines for its supposed humane animal care. But DxE says its undercover camera footage shows thousands of birds crowded in industrial sheds and no evidence of the birds stepping outside. DxE claims this is a result of the rollback of the organic animal welfare rule by the Trump administration, allowing factory farmers to falsely market their facilities as “free range.” Petaluma Poultry is the leading producer of USDA certified organic chicken.

“When Americans see what’s happening behind the doors of factory farms, they know it’s against their values,” DxE investigator Cassie King said. “But as long as corporations control our food system, we won’t have a food system with integrity.”

King was one of around 120 activists who walked onto the farm, holding flowers in their hands. The activists, who donned veterinarian-approved biosecurity gear, entered one of the industrial sheds to document conditions, provide food and water to starving and/or thirsty birds, and rescue those in need of immediate care. Without accountability or transparency, the activists say they have no choice but to take action themselves.

“These birds are living creatures, not things, but Amazon and other major retailers treat them like commodities,” DxE investigator Priya Sawhney said. “Amazon is shipping cruelty into millions of households across the world.”

DxE says that Amazon has been misleading the public, marketing animal products sold at their Whole Foods stores as coming from humanely raised animals when that is not true.

DxE is calling for Amazon and local government officials to take immediate action to provide transparency in the sale of meat and other animal products. Seizing on the momentum from this year’s ban on the sale of fur in San Francisco, activists have proposed legislation that would require signs be posted in stores and restaurants warning that the animal products sold there may come from factory farms where they are mutilated and abused, might have been dosed with antibiotics, contribute to environmental pollution and other relevant information. The draft “Right to Know” legislation has broad support among current and prospective legislators in Berkeley and San Francisco, where activists say it can help build a food system with integrity.

Investigators with Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) enter farms, slaughterhouses, and other agricultural facilities to document abuses and rescue sick and injured animals. DxE’s investigatory work has been featured in The New York Times, ABC Nightline, and a viral Glenn Greenwald exposé, and DxE activists led the recent effort to ban fur products in San Francisco. Activists have been subjected to FBI raids and felony prosecutions for these investigations and rescues.