California Animal Rights Activist Sentenced to 90 Days in Jail for Breaking Into Slaughterhouse to ‘Rescue’ Four Chickens

A California animal rights activist has been sentenced to 90 days in jail after breaking into a poultry slaughterhouse and taking four chickens in what she described as a rescue mission.

Zoe Rosenberg, 23 — a 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 break-in at the Perdue-owned Petaluma Poultry facility, according to The Guardian.

A judge ordered Rosenberg to serve 90 days in Sonoma County Jail. She must serve at least 30 days in custody before becoming eligible for alternative sentences such as house arrest for the remaining 60 days. She was also ordered to pay more than $100,000 in restitution to Petaluma Poultry. Rosenberg began serving her sentence on Dec. 10.

According to a DxE statement shared with The Press Democrat and the San Francisco Chronicle, Rosenberg is expected to be released early on Dec. 24 and will serve the rest of her sentence on house arrest.

Prosecutors say Rosenberg and other DxE activists entered the slaughterhouse in disguise, moved through restricted areas, removed live chickens, stole business records, and placed tracking devices on all 12 Petaluma Poultry transport trailers during a series of nighttime incursions over a two-month span in 2023. The activists later posted footage of the actions online.

Rosenberg has maintained that she took the chickens — which she 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 after her conviction, according to The Guardian.

In a TikTok video cited by ABC News, Rosenberg also noted she faces a steep restitution order: “The judge is ordering that I pay over $100,000, but we’ll be having a hearing to challenge that.”

She expressed concern about receiving adequate medical care while incarcerated, saying that even the possibility of dying in custody is “less frightening than the thought of giving up on animals who desperately need help.” She added that she would never stop fighting for their safety and rights.

A spokesperson for Petaluma Poultry told ABC News that the ruling “underscores the seriousness” of DxE’s actions and said the group showed “reckless disregard for employee safety, animal welfare, and food security.”

The Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office also criticized DxE, stating that Rosenberg publicly framed the operation as a rescue, but evidence showed her claims were speculative and ignored clear facts. The office said DxE demonstrated “a remarkable lack of credibility” throughout the proceedings.

Among Rosenberg’s supporters is actor Joaquin Phoenix, who called criminalizing people for rescuing suffering animals “a moral failure” and said compassion should not be treated as a crime.

DxE continues to argue that California’s existing “right to rescue” protections — which allow people to enter vehicles to save animals in danger — should be applied more broadly. The group says it has coordinated around 60 similar operations since 2014.