Protesters play audio of chickens screaming during slaughter
ENCINO, Calif. — August 16, 2025 — Members of the animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) protested outside the Trader Joe’s store at 17640 Burbank Blvd. in Encino on Saturday, after a California judge partially denied Trader Joe’s requested temporary restraining order against DxE on Tuesday.
Trader Joe’s had sought a sweeping ban on protests inside and outside all 205 California stores. On Tuesday, Judge Keith Fong denied the request as it applied to outside protests and criticized the company for refusing to engage with activists. Before the Encino store protest, demonstrators also gathered near the home of Trader Joe’s CEO, who lives in the neighborhood.
For years, DxE activists have been urging Trader Joe’s to cut ties with Petaluma Poultry, a subsidiary of poultry giant Perdue Foods, citing systemic animal cruelty and public health risks. Despite Trader Joe’s lawsuit against DxE, the campaign is continuing, with around a dozen protests at Trader Joe’s locations across the country this weekend.
Outside the Encino store, activists played audio of chickens screaming during slaughter while holding a large cardboard head of the Trader Joe’s CEO with a speech bubble reading “I sell animal cruelty.” Protesters also displayed a banner and signs declaring “Trader Joe’s sells animal cruelty,” “Drop Petaluma Poultry,” and “PerdueAbuse.com.”
“Chickens are sentient beings,” said Peggy Beal of Thousand Oaks. “They don’t deserve to suffer the cruelties at Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry any more than humans deserve to unnecessarily suffer. Trader Joe’s, you can do better!”
DxE investigations have documented sick and injured birds left without food or water at Petaluma Poultry farms, as well as birds entering scalding tanks alive and being boiled to death. DxE says these findings violate California Penal Code Section 597, which prohibits inflicting unnecessary cruelty or needless suffering on animals.
Public health concerns have also emerged. USDA reports show the Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse has four times the national rate of campylobacter and four times the state rate of salmonella — pathogens that can cause severe human illness — according to The Press Democrat.
DxE investigator Zoe Rosenberg faces one felony and three misdemeanors after openly rescuing four suffering birds from the Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse in June 2023. Her trial begins September 15, 2025 in Santa Rosa.
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.
