Dozens Protest at Home of Perdue Slaughterhouse Director

Protesters ask Jason Arnold, Director of Operations for Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse, to address documented criminal animal cruelty or resign

PHOTOS + VIDEOS (Credit: Direct Action Everywhere)

March 22, 2025, SANTA ROSA, CA -- On Saturday afternoon, nearly 30 members of the animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) held a peaceful protest outside the home of Jason Arnold, Director of Operations for Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse.

The protestors gave speeches and did call-and-response chants asking Arnold to either address findings of criminal animal cruelty at the Perdue slaughterhouse he oversees or to cut ties with Perdue. They displayed banners reading “Jason Arnold, Cut Ties with Perdue” and “PerdueAbuse.com,” as well as a large sign showing Jason Arnold’s face with a speech bubble reading “I TORTURE CHICKENS.”

A handful of counter-protesters showed up with a Trump flag and a cardboard sign reading “Eat chicken.” They heckled the speakers and disrupted photos by standing in front of the photographers.

DxE investigators have documented systemic animal abuse at Petaluma Poultry factory farms and its slaughterhouse, including evidence of birds who entered the slaughterhouse scalder while still conscious and were boiled alive and birds suffering from infectious diseases that threaten public health. DxE says the 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.”

Two of Saturday’s protesters were dressed in costumes portraying Petaluma Poultry’s cartoon chicken mascots “Rosie, the Organic Chicken” and “Rocky, the Free Range Chicken.”

“These ridiculous, dolled-up cartoon characters are meant to cover up the hundreds of thousands of real Rocky and Rosie chickens suffering right now inside industrial warehouses, desperate for their freedom,” said Connie Pearson of Glen Ellen, who joined the protest. “The real-life Rocky and Rosie chickens would never endorse Perdue’s cruelty.”

DxE investigator Zoe Rosenberg, 22, is currently facing a felony prosecution in Santa Rosa, CA for rescuing four suffering birds from the Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse in June 2023. Her trial begins May 16, 2025.

DxE activists are also protesting at Perdue’s Headquarters in Salisbury, Maryland all this week, urging Perdue CEO Kevin McAdams to stop the cruel operations at Petaluma Poultry.
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.