- - Calif. Animal Rights Activist Gets 90 Days Behind Bars for Breaking into Slaughterhouse, 'Rescuing' 4 Chickens

Christina CoulterDecember 23, 2025 at 10:27 PM

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Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via AP

Zoe Rosenberg, 23, was convicted on Oct. 29, 2025, of felony conspiracy and three misdemeanors in connection with a 2023 slaughterhouse chicken heist

Rosenberg entered the facility with other activists in disguises and removed four live chickens, according to prosecutors

The recent UC Berkeley graduate began her sentence at the Sonoma County Jail on Dec. 10. She will be released early on Dec. 24 and serve the remainder of her days on house arrest

A California woman was sentenced to 90 days in jail for breaking into a poultry slaughterhouse and taking four chickens in what she described as a rescue operation.

Zoe Rosenberg, 23, a recent UC Berkeley graduate and member of the animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), was convicted on Oct. 29, 2025, of felony conspiracy and three misdemeanor counts connected to a 2023 incursion at the Perdue-owned Petaluma Poultry facility, according to The Guardian.

A judge ordered her to serve 90 days in Sonoma County Jail — with 30 days in custody before she becomes eligible for alternatives such as house arrest for the remaining 60 days — and to pay more than $100,000 in restitution to Petaluma Poultry, per The Guardian, ABC News and KRON4. She began her sentence on Dec. 10.

Rosenberg is now expected to be released early on Dec. 24, according to a DxE statement shared with The Press Democrat and the San Francisco Chronicle. She will spend the remainder of her sentence on house arrest, per the outlets.

Prosecutors said Rosenberg and other DxE activists snuck into the slaughterhouse in disguises, moved through secured areas, removed live chickens, stole business records and placed tracking devices on all 12 Petaluma Poultry transport trailers during nighttime breaches over a two-month span in 2023, according to a press release from the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office. She and other members of DxE later posted footage of the action online, per The Guardian.

AP Photo/Terry Chea

Rosenberg has maintained that she took the birds — later named Poppy, Ivy, Aster and Azalea — because they were sick and neglected.

“I will not apologize for taking sick, neglected animals to get medical care,” she told reporters following her conviction, The Guardian reported.

In a TikTok video cited by ABC News, she added: “The judge is also ordering that I pay over $100,000 dollars in restitution, but we will have a hearing to debate that further.”

ABC News reported that Rosenberg said she is concerned about accessing medical care while incarcerated.

“I’m scared that in jail I won’t have access to the specific medical equipment and care I need, but even the possibility of dying in custody is less scary than the thought of ever giving up on the animals who desperately need help. I will never stop fighting for their rights and safety,” she said in a statement from DxE.

Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via AP

In a statement from the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project cited by ABC, she added: “I am filled with remorse for every animal I have failed to save.”

Andrea Staub, a spokesperson for Petaluma Poultry, told ABC News that the ruling “underscores the seriousness of Direct Action Everywhere’s actions and upholds the rule of law,” adding that DxE’s actions show “a reckless disregard for employee safety, animal welfare, and food security.”

The Sonoma County Farm Bureau also condemned DxE’s conduct in a statement to Berkeleyside, as quoted by The Guardian.

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In its press release, the DA's office said, "Rosenberg publicly framed the June 13 incident as a rescue, but the evidence showed her allegations rested on speculation and disregard of clear facts."

The release claimed that DxE showed “a remarkable lack of credibility” during the proceedings, saying their claims “were built on selective omissions, misunderstandings, and a willingness to ignore clear facts that cut against their narrative.”

Among Rosenberg's supporters are actor Joaquin Phoenix.

“Criminalizing people for rescuing suffering animals is a moral failure," Phoenix wrote in a statement shared by DxE. "Compassion is not a crimeWhen individuals step in to save a life because the system has looked the other way, they should be supported — not prosecuted. We have to decide who we are as a society: one that protects the vulnerable, or one that punishes those who try.”

DxE has argued that California’s “right to rescue” laws — which protect people who enter vehicles to save animals in danger — should apply more broadly. A DxE spokesperson told The Guardian that the organization has coordinated about 60 such operations since 2014.

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