AN ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST who entered a poultry processing plant in Sonoma County and took four chickens has been given a 90-day jail sentence, the county District Attorney’s Office said.
Zoe Rosenberg, 23, was found guilty in October of felony conspiracy and misdemeanor counts of trespassing and tampering with a vehicle after entering Petaluma Poultry — a subsidiary of Perdue Foods — in June 2023.
According to prosecutors, Rosenberg carefully planned out an illegal chicken heist, complete with disguises, tracking devices, stealing business records, and a safe house. According to the group Rosenberg is part of, Direct Action Everywhere, the chickens were rescued from inhumane conditions and her trespassing was a moral imperative, much like rescuing a dog from a hot car — something that is legal in California.
The birds that Rosenberg took are now living in a sanctuary, she said, and are named Poppy, Ivy, Aster and Azalea.
After her sentencing Wednesday, she remained steadfast in her position that she had done the right thing.
“I am filled with remorse for every single animal I failed to save,” Rosenberg said at her sentencing hearing, according to a spokesperson from Direct Action Everywhere, or DxE. “To the little baby chick who is currently writhing in pain on the floor of the Perdue factory farm, the young rooster being violently slammed into a Perdue transport crate, and the terrified hen about to enter Perdue’s scalding tank while fully conscious, I am sorry.”
Prosecutors told a different story, denying that any chickens were improperly handled, and after the sentencing Wednesday, District Attorney Carla Rodriguez issued a detailed statement about the case.
Rodriguez said laws are laws and Rosenberg broke them.
“(The) defendant and her organization, Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) showed a remarkable lack of credibility during these proceedings,” she said in a statement released by her office. “As the jury’s quick verdict demonstrated, their claims without exception were built on selective omissions, misunderstandings, and a willingness to ignore clear facts that cut against their narrative … Strong beliefs do not excuse fabricated conclusions, and they do not place anyone above the law.”
One such fabrication alleged by prosecutors was the idea that chickens were being boiled alive.
I am filled with remorse for every single animal I failed to save.
zoe rosenberg, animal rights activist
“She and her associates insisted that the red coloration of the offal pile at the facility proved birds were being boiled alive,” Rodriguez said, “yet testimony established the substance was federally required denaturant used to mark inedible product.”
Rodriguez also disputes the idea that the birds taken were covered in feces, bruises, scratches, wounds or parasites, and said that no evidence was presented in court from a veterinarian or other documentation showed that the chickens had been in bad shape.
DxE on Wednesday penned an equally detailed press release about the case, saying the county chose to prosecute Rosenberg over chickens “worth approximately $24” and said that due to her diabetes, the sentence will harm her health.
“Jailing Ms. Rosenberg for the nonviolent rescue of chickens worth less than $25 is unconscionable,” said Chris Carraway, staff attorney at the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project, in a statement released by DxE. “Sonoma County has put Ms. Rosenberg’s life at risk all to protect a violent, multibillion dollar industry from the idea conveyed by Ms. Rosenberg’s actions: that farmed animals deserve to live peacefully at sanctuaries rather than have their throats slit to satisfy our tastebuds.”
Rosenberg will be eligible for a jail alternative such as home confinement after 30 days.
Another DxE activist faces six-figure restitution
On Tuesday, another DxE activist was ordered to pay over $190,000 in restitution following his felony conviction for conspiracy to commit trespass and trespassing at farms in Sonoma County.
Wayne Hsiung, an attorney in San Francisco, must pay Sunrise Farms $87,195 and Weber Family Farms $104,509 after being convicted in 2023.
In 2018, Hsiung and dozens of other DxE activists entered Sunrise Farms in Petaluma and took chickens, shutting operations down “for hours,” according to Rodriguez. In 2019, he and others met at the Reichardt Duck Farm in Petaluma and chained themselves to equipment. They also removed ducks and again shut down operations for hours.
DxE decided to remove birds from both locations after they discovered what they allege were abuses to the animals at both facilities, they said. Though the group had footage of the conditions at the farms, the video was barred from being played for the jury because it was deemed prejudicial, the organization said at the time.
The activists alleged that “tens of thousands” of birds at Sunrise were packed into tall rows of cages that included sick, dead and dying chickens. DxE’s investigators also allegedly found injured birds that could not access food or water.
At Reichardt, activists allege that ducks were mistreated and found stuck on their backs on wire mesh, unable to right themselves, among other things.
John Reichardt, owner of the duck farm, testified at trial that the birds there are humanely raised and slaughtered.
DxE said it will appeal Rosenberg’s conviction.