A daring animal rights activist lay in a pile of manure outside of a San Francisco Trader Joe’s to protest the chain’s alleged egg farms conditions.
Cassie King, a student at UC Berkeley, worked with animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere for the stint that turned heads Wednesday morning.
The organization led an investigation that allegedly found chickens living in heinous conditions in wire cages covered in their own waste at a farm in Michigan, according to SFGate.
Cassie King, pictured above, lay on the ground and was covered in heaps of animal manure in a dramatic protest Wednesday morning against Trader Joe’s egg farms
The protest with Direct Action Everywhere was the result of an investigation of a Michigan farm that sources Trader Joe’s eggs and found allegedly horrid conditions where hens and eggs sat in their own waste
She woke a tank top and shorts and was covered from head to two with heaps of animal dung
The lie-out demonstration was used to raise awareness to the dire conditions.
King lay on the ground in a load of animal manure, typically used for fertilizer, wearing skin-baring clothing.
The manure was piled on top of her body, even her face.
The protest took place at the front door of the Trader Joe’s located in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood.
‘The supposedly ‘humane’ eggs sold at Trader Joe’s come from birds who lived their entire lives in piles of waste,’ King said to SFGate.
The protest took place outside of a San Francisco Trader Joe’s where protesters held signs and images of the alarming egg farm conditions they found
The protest drew crowds and to the scene that saw Cassie covered in animal waste surrounded with empty egg cartons splashed with red paint
Protesters piled on more and more animal manure on the UC Berkeley student throughout the day
While protesters used gloves to handle the dung, Cassie was covered completely, even exposing her bare skin to the animal waste
The Direct Action Everywhere members used pictured to explain their cause on the San Francisco streets
Her face was half smothered into the manure for the protest. She said : ‘A lot of people are getting that message today’
Crowds gathered around the spectacle – and the strong smell – to learn about the cause
She added that the labels ‘mislead consumers into paying for cruelty.’
She lay there for at least an hour for the protest that drew curious crowds.
‘Cassie is currently lying down in a pile of real manure to demonstrate what happens to animals in the animal agriculture industry and to show solidarity with the animals that are forced to lay in these conditions for days without any food or water,’ a speaker at the protest said in a live video posted to Facebook.
Crowds gathered with their phones to film the protest. Activists stood by with images of the hens on the farm to show their squalor conditions.
King said she was compelled to do lie-in in animal waste after learning about the investigation’s findings.
‘I could not imagine living like this and having someone call this is natural to live my life this way,’ King said.
‘Well I saw the conditions from the investigation that we see the other animals were living in and I want the public to realize that’s a lie that’s being sold to them and a lot of people are getting that message today,’ she added with a somber face close to tears.
The activists argued that the grocery chain labelled their eggs as all-natural, but the say that ‘there’s nothing natural about this’ given the birds’ living conditions.
Trader Joe’s is yet to comment on the protest.