North Bay animal activist begins 90-day jail sentence

Animal rights activist surrenders to jail to begin 90-day sentence

An advocate for farm animal rights will spend the rest of the holidays in jail for her role in the taking of four chickens from a poultry processing plant.

PETALUMA, Calif. - An advocate for farm animal rights will spend the rest of the holidays in jail for her role in the taking of four chickens from a North Bay poultry processing plant.

Direct Action Everywhere – a global network of animal rights activists – held a vigil outside of Sonoma County's Main Detention Facility on Wednesday evening in support of Zoe Rosenberg, who will be spending 90 days behind bars.

The backstory:

Rosenberg, a recent UC Berkeley graduate, was found guilty in October of conspiracy, trespassing and vehicle tampering on Petaluma Poultry’s property in June 2023.

Rosenberg said she rescued four ill-treated chickens from Petaluma Poultry, a division of food and agribusiness giant Perdue Farms.

"The public is in support of animal rescue and doesn't agree with jailing a compassionate rescuer. And, because of Zoe's very serious health issue, we're very concerned about what might happen in the jail," said Direct Action Everywhere Organizer Cassie King. 

It is possible that Rosenberg may be able – if the court grants her petition – to service 60 of the 90 days in house arrest due to diabetes.

"Already, tens of thousands of people have signed a petition asking Governor Newsom to pardon Zoe because they understand that what they did was an act of compassion," said co-organizer Almira Tanner

Perdue's Petaluma Poultry said, in part "… this was never about four chickens. It was a coordinated effort to unlawfully enter the plant and steal property and data, wearing stolen employee uniforms to gain unauthorized access." 

The company also denies any animal abuse occurred at the property.

Rosenberg said she acted out of conviction and concern. 

"Every single animal suffering in these facilities is an individual with a personality and a life and feelings. They are denied basic care. They never get any sort of medical care, they are left to slowly die on a floor of feces when they get sick or develop and injury or a disability," she said. 

"Those animals, unlike Zoe, do not have a release date," said animal rights lawyer Mirais Holden. "These are animals who will live their entire lives beginning at birth in conditions of squalor, neglect and abuse and then they will ultimately be killed in cruel ways. But because Purdue is a powerful mega corporation, with incredible amounts of power, because they are doing this to thousands and thousands and thousands of animals every single day, for a profit, Purdue gets a pass."