Why is this person facing more than five years in prison for rescuing animals?
Week two of Zoe Rosenberg's criminal trial in Santa Rosa, CA. ended with over 300 prospective jurors examined, but still no 12-member jury seated in this polarized town. Many prospective jurors gasped - then asked to be excused - upon hearing this trial may last six weeks. The alleged crime? Removing four sick hens from a slaughterhouse. Charging papers state each hen is worth $6.00 US dollars. Rosenberg faces five years behind bars for taking them. Had she shoplifted chicken instead, she would face no more than six months.
Our story begins in supermarkets: where shoppers pay a 75 percent surcharge for organic chicken and where a sexy cartoon hen named Rosie is a corporate logo older than Rosenberg. Dressed in sun hat, pearls and heels, “Rosie the organic hen is a trusted Petaluma icon,” Rosenberg explained. “Consumers genuinely believe chicken with Rosie on the package lived happy, wonderful lives.” When the 21 year old investigated herself, here’s what she purportedly saw at one Petaluma supplier:
Can you see what I see?
On April 24 2023, a camera allegedly placed along Petaluma’s shackle line filmed this moving conveyor belt of motionless stunned hens. Suddenly, a conscious, unstunned bird comes into frame - also upside down, clipped by her feet to the moving shackle line - but flapping vigorously. A worker in biohazard gear does not appear to kill the flailing birds before they are lowered headfirst into a scalding tank. If true and unadulterated, the red-hued video depicts multiple unstunned birds scalded alive within a 90-minute span, arguably violating California's animal cruelty law.
These sights shaped Rosenberg’s beliefs and mind set. So did multiple, futile attempts to alert federal, state and local agencies to animal cruelty she claims to have seen and documented. But the jury won’t see her frustrated efforts to involve the authorities, or the underlying factory farm footage (deemed ‘irrelevant’) or the videos purportedly of Petaluma Poultry’s shackle line.
True crime?
On June 13, 2023, Rosenberg entered Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse’s undocking area dressed as an employee. She approached a “long truck bed stacked with hundreds of orange crates,” each packed with chickens. She picked small, sickly hens in a videotaped “open rescue” that you can watch here.
After removing the four hens from Petaluma Poultry’s slaughterhouse, Rosenberg brought them to Carla Cabral, a former emergency room veterinary technician and upcoming expert witness. A veterinarian immediately examined them, finding coccidia infestations; foot infection, respiratory infection. Cassie King of Direct Action Everywhere added that “the respiratory infection required hospital care, which Poppy received at The Medical Center for Birds.”
One of the rescued chickens, now named Poppy. (Photo: Direct Action Everywhere)
Five months after publicizing her “open rescue,” Rosenberg was arrested. Despite waiting months to arrest her, Rosenberg described, “prosecutors at (her) bail hearing calling (her) dangerous - a public threat -and urging that she wear a GPS ankle monitor while awaiting trial.”
Ankle monitors typically mark violent gang members, pedophiles and stalkers. Wearing the device was embarrassing. Ms. Rosenberg accepted her college diploma under government surveillance.
After nearly two years, her defense attorney successfully argued for the ankle monitor's removal because just seeing it on his client might prejudice a jury. That defense attorney is Chris Carraway of the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project. He defended Rosenberg's constitutional right of free speech when prosecutors tried to gag her. He also convinced Judge Kenneth Gnoss to allow a future jury to hear about the four hens’ health and see their veterinary records.
Hen health determines marketability and value. But Petaluma’s corporate records - photographed at the Petaluma Poultry plant - suggest the hens Rosenberg took may have already been condemned. If so, they had zero market value and were likely headed for a “discard pile” when she interceded.
If Rosenberg’s plan had been to remove, comfort and heal commercially worthless, condemned hens, it will be hard to convince a jury these actions were criminal.
Still, DXE’s Lead Organizer, Almira Tanner, worried about finding unbiased local residents:
“Petaluma Poultry is running a very aggressive public relations campaign, erecting six [pro-poultry] billboards and running digital ads on social media. Additionally, a political action committee, Sonoma County Family Farmers Alliance, mailed out glossy, 4-page petitions urging all local residents to ‘stand with poultry farmers’ against “outsiders” and ‘extremists’.”
An ankle monitor, six weeks of trial, five years in jail, plus an “aggressive” public relations campaign for helping four (possibly condemned) hens?
“It is a clear attempt to chill animal rights activism in the Bay Area,” animal rights attorney Mirais Holden said in a press conference before the courthouse; “a political prosecution.”
N.B. We emailed Petaluma Poultry several times, asking how much the six billboards and digital advertisements cost them. We also asked if they were concerned that their timing might bias potential jurors. We asked them to please confirm/deny if the red-hued video is their shackle line. As of publication, they have not responded.
Stories like Zoe Rosenberg’s highlight the hidden suffering behind everyday animal products. If you’re inspired to take a stand, join Species Unite’s 30-Day Plant-Powered Challenge starting October 1. It’s a month of free recipes, tips, and daily emails that help you explore delicious plant-based meals and reduce demand for factory-farmed animals. Sign up here to make a compassionate change, one meal at a time.
Written by Tamara Bedić
Tamara Bedić, Esq. is a New York attorney, championing women in the workplace. When she's not litigating, she is rescuing injured birds, chairing the Animal Rights Committee of the National Lawyers Guild or walking her special needs cat, ILLYA.
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