Animal rights activists stage protest at San Francisco Costco

Organizers for the animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere staged a demonstration at the Costco in San Francisco’s SOMA district. The group released a video on their website this past Thursday that was allegedly taken in the chicken den of one of Costco’s suppliers, Pleasant Valley Farms in Farmington, CA. The video shows chickens in cramped spaces, unable to move, and covered in feces.

The video followed a previous Direct Action Everywhere investigation into animal welfare at another Costco supplier, Farmer John.

Pleasant Valley Farms eggs are sold under Costco’s store brand Kirkland and have been supplying Costco stores with cage free eggs since 2015. Costco says that cage-free eggs now account for roughly 25% of all of their total egg sales.

Protesters outside of the SOMA Costco lined the outside of the SOMA Costco entrance to protest. Demonstrators also attempted to stage a “die-in” in the stores meat section complete with fake blood. The demonstration was meant to bring attention to their “Cannibalism at Costco” campaign.

Pleasant Valley Farms released a statement when the video was released. The representative for the farm says that Direct Action Everywhere was trespassing by shooting the video, and that the depiction of the farm does not accurately show what happens in their farms. The representative goes on to say that the video “appears to be staged for production affect”.

Costco also released a statement on the demonstrations. They said, “We have reinspected the barn and other operations of this supplier, and based on these inspections and prior audits, we are comfortable with the animal welfare aspects of the operation.”