Petaluma woman faces prison for chicken rescue

(KRON) — Animal rights activists marched Saturday in Petaluma in support of a woman on trial for allegedly taking four chickens from a local poultry slaughterhouse.

Zoe Rosenberg faces up to nearly five years in prison. She’s accused of entering the Perdue-owned Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse in 2023.

Her trial began Monday in Sonoma County.

According to a criminal complaint filed by the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office, Rosenberg visited Petaluma Poultry without authorization four times.

During those visits, she allegedly attached GPS devices to 12 different farm delivery vehicles. She’s also accused of taking the chickens off a vehicle and leaving with them.

KRON4 spoke with Cassie King, a member of the Berkeley-based animal advocacy group Direct Action Everywhere. She said Rosenberg was trying to bring light to a disturbing situation.

“Zoe and other investigators with our group, Direct Action Everywhere, have been documenting abuses of animals in factory farms here in Sonoma County for seven years now,” said King. “We have been reporting these unlawful violations to the authorities at every level — state, county, local, city level. The authorities refused to address even clear, documented violations of California’s animal cruelty laws. So given the authorities’ failure to act in the face of this cruelty, Zoe herself rescued four suffering birds from Perdue’s slaughterhouse, and she took them to get veterinary care. Our biggest weapon is a camera, and you have to ask yourself, ‘Why is a camera so threatening?’ It’s because this industry has so much to hide.”

King said Zoe has a long history of fighting for animal rights and does not regret her actions.

“Zoe very much stands by her actions,” added King. “She believes she has both the legal and a moral right to rescue animals who are suffering, and we have very clear laws about this when it comes to dogs trapped inside hot cars. There are explicit right-to-rescue laws that give ordinary people the right to intervene, to break a car window, to get an animal who is overheating out of that situation. And we know this applies to any animal who is at the brink of death, who needs rescue. And that is what we are asserting.”

KRON4 reached out to the Perdue-owned Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse for a statement but did not hear back in time for this report.