A 23-year-old animal rights activist from California has been sentenced to 60 days in jail and ordered to pay over $100,000 in restitution after removing four chickens from a slaughterhouse-owned farm.
The Charges and the 'Rescue' Mission
Zoe Rosenberg was convicted in October on multiple charges, including two misdemeanour counts of trespassing, one misdemeanour for tampering with a vehicle, and a felony conspiracy charge. The charges stemmed from a series of incidents in June 2023, where Rosenberg and fellow activists from the Berkeley-based group Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) entered a Perdue-owned Petaluma Poultry facility.
Prosecutors stated the group trespassed on the farm on four separate occasions, accessed documents and computers, attached GPS trackers to delivery trucks, and ultimately took four live chickens from a truck bed. The birds, later named Poppy, Ivy, Aster, and Azalea, were taken to an animal sanctuary.
A Clash of Narratives: Theft vs. Rescue
Rosenberg did not deny taking the chickens but framed her actions as a necessary intervention. She claimed the animals were in visible distress, injured, and showing clear signs of cruelty, covered in scratches and bruises. "I will not apologise for taking sick, neglected animals to get medical care," Rosenberg said in October.
Her legal team argued that the living conditions of the chickens justified her actions. However, the Sonoma County District Attorney's office described her apparent lack of remorse as 'staggering' and urged the judge to impose a 180-day sentence. The jury deliberated for less than a day before finding her guilty on all counts.
Sentencing and Wider Reactions
On Thursday, the judge handed down a sentence far below the maximum four-and-a-half years Rosenberg faced. The final verdict includes 60 days in county jail, two years’ probation, and over $100,000 in restitution.
Her lawyer, Chris Carraway, criticised the prosecution's focus, stating: "Sonoma County spent more than six weeks and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to protect a multi-billion-dollar corporation from the rescue of four chickens worth less than $25."
Animal rights lawyer Wayne Hsiung called the prosecution a "s*** show" and said Rosenberg's imprisonment was a "moral stain on our civilisation." In contrast, a Perdue Farms spokesperson said the sentencing "underscores the seriousness" of DxE's actions and "affirms a basic truth: when you break the law, you will be held responsible."
Adding complexity to the case, Rosenberg has Type 1 diabetes and gastroparesis, conditions her legal team argued require continuous medical care while she is incarcerated.
The case has attracted significant attention, with Oscar-winning actor Joaquin Phoenix publicly defending Rosenberg in September, calling her prosecution a 'moral failure.'
