Zoe Rosenberg

Animal rescuer
UC Berkeley student

[Zoe Rosenberg @Zoe_Rooster]

"My entire future hangs in the balance, but I am not afraid because when I look into the eyes of River, Oakley, Vincent, Petunia, Poppy and the many other animals we have rescued from Reichardt Duck Farm and Petaluma Poultry, I know it was worth it."

Thank you @Truthdig for publishing my article!

Read the full piece here: https://t.co/lc6IRZok62

[Zoe Rosenberg @Zoe_Rooster]

Yesterday, I was sentenced to serve 90 days in the Sonoma County Jail and pay over $102,000 in restitution as a punishment for rescuing four sick, abused chickens from Perdue's Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse. I will have to turn myself in on December 10th at 7 pm. I have also been ordered to spend two years on supervised probation, maintain employment or remain enrolled as a student, stay away from all Perdue facilities in Sonoma County, and have no contact with several other animal rescuers who I work with.
For the first 30 days of my jail sentence, the judge has barred me from being allowed to even apply for alternative detention, despite my complex health issues that make even a few days in jail incredibly dangerous. It is also important to note that my application for alternative detention could be denied for those latter 60 days.
The Sonoma County Jail uses the medical provider WellPath. WellPath has been sued over 1,400 times for medical neglect and malpractice and is currently declaring bankruptcy. I have Type 1 Diabetes, a serious autoimmune disease I have lived with since the age of eight. If I go without insulin for even a handful of hours, I could end up hospitalized or worse. If I have a hypoglycemic episode and don't immediately get access to glucose, I could have a seizure, go into a coma, or die. We have no confidence that WellPath will take these concerns seriously given their long history of medical neglect.
As I face these risks, I am thinking constantly about the animals on factory farms and other facilities who are denied even the most basic care, medical or otherwise. We will keep fighting for them and their right to be safe and cared for and I hope to be here at the end of this, alive and well to continue that fight.
Please ask Governor Gavin Newsom to pardon me before I have to turn myself into jail so that my health will not be put into the hands of WellPath and to send a message that animal rescue is not a crime in the first place: https://t.co/tYBaQITwDR
#RightToRescue

[Zoe Rosenberg @Zoe_Rooster]

My trial for rescuing 4 chickens is expected to last 6 weeks. Murder trials in the same county often take about 2 weeks.

[Zoe Rosenberg @Zoe_Rooster]

My ankle monitor is off!

During court this past week, the judge ruled I could have my ankle monitor removed so that its presence would not negatively bias the jury.

Jury selection started Thursday.

#PerdueTrial #RightToRescue

[Common Dreams @commondreams]

In court, I will view myself simply as a representative, a body and a voice, for all of the chickens who have been wronged by Perdue, and by the animal agriculture industry as a whole, writes @Zoe_Rooster. https://t.co/5lLRwsq71u

[Direct Action Everywhere @DxEverywhere]

.@nytimes reports on DxE and an upcoming trial where Zoe Rosenberg faces half a decade in jail for rescuing four abused, neglected chickens from Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse.

Since 2013, Direct Action Everywhere investigators have documented routine violations of California animal cruelty laws on facilities in Sonoma County that tout being “humane,” “organic,” and “free range.” Among the worst of these companies is Petaluma Poultry, a subsidiary of Perdue, one of the largest poultry producers in the nation. When Zoe rescued Poppy, Ivy, Aster, and Azalea, four chickens who were covered in wounds, infested with parasites, and suffering from infections, she hoped that Petaluma Poultry would be the one investigated and prosecuted for their violations of the law. Instead, she goes on trial in 2 weeks facing felony and misdemeanor charges. She is represented by the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project, @AALDP_DU.

Read more about the controversy unfolding in Sonoma County in the New York Times: https://t.co/h4Vb92PN5u

#PerdueTrial #RightToRescue

[Zoe Rosenberg @Zoe_Rooster]

“Rosenberg claimed the chickens were victims of animal abuse and argued that animals have the right to be rescued when they are facing abuse. She was arrested in November 2023 and has been wearing an ankle monitor for over a year and a half as a condition for remaining out of custody while awaiting trial.”

Read today’s article in The Daily Cal:
https://t.co/SQ0YaSWT46

[Zoe Rosenberg @Zoe_Rooster]

My trial starts 3 weeks from today and we are busy spreading the word, encouraging members of the public to consider important questions about animals and the rights they are entitled to. Yesterday, we talked to hundreds of my fellow students at UC Berkeley. I was overwhelmed by the amount of support we received. Many students even took the time to use our form to email the Sonoma County District Attorney to ask her to use the resources being spent on my prosecution to instead investigate and prosecute animal cruelty.

You can email her using the form at https://t.co/z8fqRnqTFf and/or register to attend my trial in person at https://t.co/pN7AfWllVz ❤️

[Animal Activist Legal Defense Project @AALDP_DU]

Trial begins 9/15 for @Zoe_Rooster. She faces up to 5 yrs for rescuing 4 chickens. Does anyone think that, had she stolen *dead*🐔from a supermarket, she would face felonies, be electronically tracked, & possibly end up incarcerated? Stay tuned for trial updates. #righttorescue

[Zoe Rosenberg @Zoe_Rooster]

I go on trial one month from today facing nearly half a decade in jail for rescuing four criminally abused chickens, Poppy, Ivy, Aster, and Azalea, from Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse. My prosecutors say this was an act of felony conspiracy, not an act of rescue. It will be up to the jury to decide.

It would mean the world to have you at my trial as we challenge one of the largest poultry producers in the nation. My trial is expected to last multiple weeks, but you can attend for any amount of time. You can register to attend in person at https://t.co/pN7AfWllVz

#PerdueTrial #RightToRescue

[Zoe Rosenberg @Zoe_Rooster]

Last week, we received a ruling from the judge that will have a significant impact on my upcoming trial. Read my blog about it here: https://t.co/rvdlHTgLwK

#PerdueTrial #RightToRescue

[Direct Action Everywhere @DxEverywhere]

“Judge Gnoss’s ruling marks a significant moment in the case, reaffirming the role of free speech in legal proceedings involving public interest issues. As the trial approaches, Rosenberg’s prosecution continues to serve as a flashpoint for debates about animal rights, food safety, and the criminalization of activism.”

Read the full article here in the @DavisVanguard: https://t.co/tPO5ubpjQN

[Direct Action Everywhere @DxEverywhere]

Just published by Wired: The animal agriculture industry and the FBI are desperately trying to paint DxE and other animal rights activists as “bioterrorists” with baseless accusations.

Hundreds of documents obtained by the government transparency nonprofit Property of the People reveal the industry’s disturbing tactics — including surveillance, informants, and direct collaboration with the FBI — all to silence activists like Zoe Rosenberg and hide the truth about animal agriculture from the public. Among other things, the article exposes how ag lobbyist groups have hired spies to infiltrate DxE conferences and how public health agencies have concealed disease information from the public to prioritize the industry’s secrecy over public safety.

Clearly, the industry and government will go to great lengths to try to silence us. But false accusations, infiltration, and repression will not stop us. Rather, it shows us that our work is having a powerful impact.

👉 Read the full article at this link: https://t.co/IdolBfySGS

[Zoe Rosenberg @Zoe_Rooster]

I finally graduated! 🎓

My time at UC Berkeley has been atypical, and there have been moments I wasn’t sure I’d get to graduate at all.

On my very first day of classes, I released an investigation I had conducted into Seaboard Foods, the company that was supplying “pork” to the campus dining halls. I chained myself to Sather Gate with two other students. We demanded the school immediately cut ties with Seaboard Foods. Hours later, they did just that. The dining hall administration also agreed to meet with us. We convinced them to cut ties with Butterball Turkey, a company co-owned by Seaboard. Months later, we were also able to convince the school to cut ties with Harris Ranch.

The following semester, I conducted an investigation into a Tyson factory farm. At the time, Tyson was the school’s primary chicken supplier. We released that investigation and launched our campaign asking the school to drop Tyson Foods. After multiple years of campaigning, UC Berkeley ultimately cut ties with Tyson in the dining halls.

I’ve also continued to do activism off campus. In 2022, I chained myself to the basketball court during an NBA game to protest Glen Taylor, owner of the Timberwolves. He runs a factory egg farm that roasted 3.5 million chickens alive.

In spring of 2023, my investigatory work primarily focused on Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry in Sonoma County. In the evenings, I’d rush home from classes and get ready to go. I documented chickens facing criminal abuse and neglect, and rescued chickens who I found in urgent need of medical attention. In June of 2023, I saved four chickens from the company’s slaughterhouse. For this act, I am now wearing an ankle monitor and facing years in prison. I go on trial in September.

I am graduating with an uncertain future, but I don’t regret the actions that have led me here. I don’t regret the animals I’ve saved. I do regret every moment that animals suffer and die. As I prepare to leave college behind (I will be wrapping up a couple final classes next year), I hope I can dedicate more time to fighting for those animals and guaranteeing all living beings a kinder world.

#UCBerkeley #PerdueTrial #RightToRescue

[Zoe Rosenberg @Zoe_Rooster]

I’m graduating from UC Berkeley today and my ankle monitor is ready.

#PerdueTrial

[Zoe Rosenberg @Zoe_Rooster]

“In 2023, UC Berkeley student and activist Zoe Rosenberg removed four severely ill chickens from a slaughterhouse truck in Petaluma, California, and brought them to an animal sanctuary. Now, she’s facing over five years in prison. Rosenberg’s trial is scheduled for later this year, and her allegations tell a story of horrific conditions at ostensibly “free-range” chicken farms, as well as the steep uphill battle activists face in convincing law enforcement to even investigate allegations of animal cruelty on factory farms.”

Read today’s article in @sentient_media here: https://t.co/2s4L0C5uaP

[Zoe Rosenberg @Zoe_Rooster]

“When I walk across the stage to graduate from UC Berkeley this month, an ankle monitor will track my every step. I am facing up to five and a half years in prison for rescuing four criminally abused chickens, Poppy, Ivy, Aster and Azalea, from Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse.”

Read my op-ed in The Daily Californian at the link in my bio.

https://t.co/DYVIvUwFau

[Zoe Rosenberg @Zoe_Rooster]

My prosecutors are trying to place me under a gag order. This is a political prosecution to protect Perdue, one of the nation’s largest poultry producers, from public scrutiny.

[Zoe Rosenberg @Zoe_Rooster]

The story of my ongoing criminal case is on the front page of San Francisco Chronicle’s Sunday paper. Facing charges has been difficult in many ways, but I am immensely grateful that it has brought attention to the criminal animal cruelty at Petaluma Poultry and allowed the world to hear the stories of Poppy, Ivy, Aster, and Azalea. #PerdueTrial #RightToRescue

[Direct Action Everywhere @DxEverywhere]

“Just four months after she graduates on May 17 with a bachelor’s degree in social movement strategy, the straight-A student will stand trial in a Sonoma County courtroom for her June 2023 incursion into Petaluma Poultry, a processing facility owned by agribusiness giant Perdue Farms. If convicted for taking four chickens Perdue valued at around $24, she faces up to 5½ years in prison.”

Thank you @sfchronicle for covering this story. Read the full article here: https://t.co/S3PnRilvwS

[Direct Action Everywhere @DxEverywhere]

The Perdue Trial is being postponed.

This morning, the prosecutors motioned to delay the May 16th trial to give themselves more time to prepare their case. Zoe’s attorney (with @aaldp_du) objected, pointing out the multitude of ways this would negatively impact her and her legal team.

District Attorney Matthew Hobson argued that the impact that delaying trial would have on Zoe personally is irrelevant to the court. He said that the trial is not stressful for her because apparently he knows better than she does (that’s sarcastic).

Unfortunately, the judge granted his motion to continue. Given when trial is likely to be rescheduled, Zoe is currently trying to determine if she will still be able to graduate UC Berkeley this year.

The Animal Liberation Conference is still happening from May 23 - 27 and May 16 - 22 will now be a week full of action against Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry.

#PerdueTrial #RightToRescue