Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:00:48] There’s this Instagram video that I came across recently of a UC Berkeley student and animal rights activist named Zoe Rosenberg, or Zoe Rooster on IG. And she’s petting this large chicken named Glenn, who’s sitting on her lap.
Zoe Rosenberg: [00:01:07] And I hope that I will be free to celebrate his fifth birthday at the end of March. But I don’t know if I will be.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:01:16] Zoe is worried because today, she could be sentenced to prison. Zoe was found guilty of felony conspiracy after she was filmed with the animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere, taking chickens from a Sonoma County poultry facility. It’s a bizarre story that’s garnered national attention with animal welfare in Sonoma County at the center of it all.
Dana Cronin: [00:01:50] This has just kind of boiled up into this moment and this trial, and and and it might not be the last.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:01:59] Today, the Berkeley animal rights activist turned convicted felon.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:02:08] Well, Dana, first off, I I just have been like thinking about this story, how wild it is, but also how it just seems like I feel like we’ve really been talking a lot about animal welfare in Sonoma County in particular in the last few years. Is it just me or does it feel like that really has sort of been the case?
Dana Cronin: [00:02:30] I think that definitely is the case, especially here in the Bay Area.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:02:35] Dana Cronin is a reporter for KQED.
Dana Cronin: [00:02:39] Which is interesting because Sonoma County is also heralded as like one of the most humane places where animals are farmed. You’ve seen the cows grazing in like rolling green hills, white picket fences. Like it’s very picturesque. And most farmers there farm organically, and California holds them to really strict animal welfare laws, more strict than almost any other state in the country. So it is interesting and like kind of ironic that the county has been at the center of this animal welfare debate.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:03:26] This story in particular is really centered around this activist named Zoe Rosenberg. Tell me a little bit more about Zoe and and who this person is.
Dana Cronin: [00:03:36] So Zoe is twenty three years old. She is currently a student at UC Berkeley and she was born in the Bay Area, but she mostly grew up in San Luis Obispo.
Zoe Rosenberg: [00:03:48] I’ve always really loved animals and cared about animals and I grew up surrounded by them.
Dana Cronin: [00:03:54] And she’s just one of those people who has always loved animals, like from a very young age. Her mom is a veterinarian, so she’s always been around them.
Zoe Rosenberg: [00:04:04] People were always showing up at our house when I was a kid with sick animals or if animals they found abandon on the street asking for my mom’s help. And she also got involved in animal activism at a really young age. I became an organizer for Direct Action Everywhere when I was 12 years old, about a year after I started Happy and Animal Sanctuary. She
Dana Cronin: [00:04:26] Says she learned about the group, Direct Action Everywhere, on social media, and they really inspired her to get involved.
Zoe Rosenberg: [00:04:35] I saw videos of people doing protests and talking about what’s happening to animals and I was so inspired and I knew I wanted to do activism like that.
Dana Cronin: [00:04:46] And then she ultimately went to UC Berkeley and then became even more involved with Direct Action Everywhere since they’re based in Berkeley. And now she’s an organizer with the group and has participated in and led a lot of protests for them.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:05:05] And I actually like looked through Zoe’s social media and she really is like a diehard animal rights activist. Like every single one of her posts is about chickens, about cows, just like it’s about her activism.
Dana Cronin: [00:05:23] Yeah, Zoe is really active on social media. I think that’s how she’s garnered a lot of attention.
Zoe Rosenberg: [00:05:31] Here are five basic rights that all animals deserve to have the right to not be exploited, abused, or killed by humans.
Dana Cronin: [00:05:38] And if you go to her Instagram she has hundreds of thousands of followers and she posts multiple times a day, her you know, with different animals in her life, chickens, cows, goats. She very clearly Loves animals.
Zoe Rosenberg: [00:05:56] The right to be free or have a guardian. Take action for animals. Go to directactioneverywhere.Com.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:06:04] Tell me a little bit more about this group that she is part of, direct action everywhere.
Dana Cronin: [00:06:11] Yeah, so this is a pretty controversial group. Like I said, they’re Berkeley-based, and their stated goal is to completely ban animal agriculture. They are most known for their attention grabbing protests. They call them quote unquote animal rescues.
Direct Action Everywhere Video: [00:06:35] So today we had a successful action where we were able to rescue four birds and we’ve shut down this slaughterhouse for now. We have four activists locked to a box.
Dana Cronin: [00:06:45] This is where they break into farms. They film themselves stealing animals, whether that’s chickens, cows, other livestock.
Direct Action Everywhere Video: [00:06:55] Hopefully you know people who are watching this also feel inspired to take similar action because we’re not any we’re not special. We are just ordinary people who realize that there’s extreme violence happening all around us and today we’re doing something about it
Dana Cronin: [00:07:10] But you might also remember a pretty high profile protest of theirs from twenty twenty two, when actually Zoe herself ran onto the court at an NBA game and tried to super glue herself to a basket.
News Anchor: [00:07:24] Another Minnesota Timberwolves game, another protester on the court. It’s almost becoming a regular occurrence now after another animal rights protester stormed the court during the Timberwolves and Memphis.
Dana Cronin: [00:07:36] That was in protest of the owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves who also owned an egg farm that Direct Action Everywhere says was abusing animals.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:07:48] I mean that’s that’s pretty intense stuff.
Dana Cronin: [00:07:50] Yeah.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:07:53] Well let’s talk about the trial, Dana, because this trial centered on an incident that happened at a Sonoma County poultry facility in twenty twenty three. What happened exactly?
Dana Cronin: [00:08:05] So this was one of their quote unquote open rescues, like I mentioned. So in this instance in particular, on June 13th, 2023, Zoe and a few of her fellow activists broke into Petaluma poultry in the middle of the night, and they took four chickens off a trailer and placed them into buckets, and then they left with them. They filmed the whole thing, they shared that video with me, and it shows Zoe dressed in protective gear. She has a hard hat on and she has a mask on, and she’s sifting through these crates of chickens that are loaded up onto a truck bed.
Zoe Rosenberg: [00:08:47] She’s in really bad shape. She keeps closing her eyes. She seems to be in a lot of pain when I touch her…
Dana Cronin: [00:08:54] She inspects a couple of them and then places four of them into red buckets. And Zoe told me that she chose those specific chickens because they were covered in scratches and bruises.
Zoe Rosenberg: [00:09:09] We have repeatedly reported criminal animal cruelty at Petaluma Poultry, and law enforcement have repeatedly failed to act. And we know that they aren’t going to help her. So we will.
Dana Cronin: [00:09:24] And I should also note that that isn’t the only incident upon which this trial was based. Zoe was also charged with you know, in the lead up to that incident, going through the farm’s paperwork, computers, and even affixing GPS monitors onto twelve different farm delivery vehicles.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:09:47] Oh wow.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:09:53] It seems like Zoe and Direct Action Everywhere really had their sights set on this specific poultry facility. why? Why is that? Like what does Zoe and this group say that they were saving the chickens from exactly?
Dana Cronin: [00:10:09] Yeah, Zoe and Direct Action Everywhere have been investigating Petaluma poultry for a really long time, like more than five years. They say that they’ve accumulated evidence over that time that shows widespread neglect and, you know, again, they say generally horrific conditions for chickens there. Things like chickens suffering from a disease that causes their legs to swell up. They also say they have evidence of chickens being boiled alive there as a result of like rapidly moving slaughter lines. I also want to note Petaluma Poultry and its owner, Purdue Farms, have denied all of these claims and any evidence of wrongdoing there.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:10:58] What was the reaction to this this action at the time, especially among farmers and and I guess maybe the community in Sonoma County that felt very targeted by direct action everywhere?
Dana Cronin: [00:11:10] Yeah, I would say generally farmers in Sonoma County are just really fed up with this group, honestly.
Mike Weber: [00:11:18] The activists want to tell a different story that we’re here to torture, we’re here because we’re cruel people. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Dana Cronin: [00:11:27] I talked to one farmer in particular, Mike Weber, who had his farm broken into actually by Zoe and other direct action everywhere activists in a totally separate incident. I think for him it’s more than just a nuisance. He really views it as endangering his animals.
Mike Weber: [00:11:46] We had hundreds of people run onto our farm here, pry the doors open to our chicken houses, run through them, grabbing chickens, coming out, holding the chickens in a way that would be a direct animal welfare violation. They weren’t supporting them properly, so the chickens are gasping for air.
Dana Cronin: [00:12:02] These activists are breaking and entering. And I think, you know, a lot of farmers are also just scared to talk publicly about this. I’ve honestly had a hard time getting anyone to talk to me about this. And I think that’s for fear of being targeted by this group next.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:12:23] And I imagine it feels, I I mean it is a direct threat to his livelihood, what they’re trying to do.
Dana Cronin: [00:12:29] Yeah. Absolutely.
Mike Weber: [00:12:36] There isn’t a widespread problem as has been alleged by these activists here. They are targeting us because we’re convenient for them. They’re forty minutes from Berkeley. They do not want to go to where the real problems are in other parts of the nation or even in other places in the state. They believe that by targeting us in a a pretty progressive county, that they can convince people that there are animal abusers here and it’s widespread. And that can’t be further from the truth.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:13:08] We’ll have more with KQED’s Dana Cronin right after this. Stay with us.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:14:08] So then how does this all sort of spiral into a trial?
Dana Cronin: [00:14:14] So ultimately, Zoe was charged with four counts, the most serious of which was felony conspiracy. So, in their complaint, the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office said that Zoe unlawfully conspired to trespass onto the farm on multiple occasions. The other three charges were all misdemeanors. Those included trespassing and damaging or tampering with a vehicle.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:14:42] What is the trial about exactly? What what is the central question?
Dana Cronin: [00:14:47] So the prosecution’s case was pretty straightforward. Zoe broke these laws and she should be held accountable. It’s interesting because the central question of this trial was never really whether Zoe did these things, but why?
Zoe Rosenberg: [00:15:06] I don’t believe that what I did was a crime.
Dana Cronin: [00:15:09] Zoe admits to doing these things. I mean, they took the video of the whole thing. So her lawyer tried to convince the jury that Zoe’s breaking of the law was justified because of the animal cruelty that they say was taking place at Petaluma Poultry, which again, Petaluma Poultry denies. Zoe and her defense team also tried to submit that evidence that they say shows animal welfare violations at Petaluma Poultry, but the judge denied that request. How long does this trial last? The jury actually came to their decision very quickly. So the trial started on September 15th. And then on October 29th, the jury convicted her on all counts. The felony and all three misdemeanor counts. She is set to be sentenced today, and she’s facing up to almost five years in prison.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:16:15] I remember it being really shocking, like the headline this animal rights activist is a convicted felon. What is the reaction to all this?
Dana Cronin: [00:16:25] Obviously, the district attorney was, of course, happy with the outcome, basically saying that Zoe got what she deserved, and that no one is above the law, no matter their beliefs or their justification for breaking the law. Petaluma Poultry and Purdue Farms have been pretty quiet. I reached out to both of them for interviews throughout my reporting, and they never agreed to one. They have released public statements. They call Direct Action Everywhere an extremist group. They say Zoe’s actions were extreme and that she deserves to be put on trial. They’ve said this is not about silencing speech. It’s about holding people accountable for unlawful activity. And that obviously wasn’t the case.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:17:43] When she was convicted, what was her reaction? Was she sad? Was she scared? Like, I I can’t even imagine how that must feel.
Dana Cronin: [00:17:55] Talked to her since then, but she has posted numerous videos on her social media in the aftermath.
Zoe Rosenberg: [00:18:04] Prosecutors hope that this will deter people from speaking up for animals, that it will deter people from rescuing them, and I ask that you do not let it. You will continue on no matter what, until every animal is safe and happy and free.
Dana Cronin: [00:18:20] She said she’s not sorry about what she did. She’s expressed no remorse. And I think she would honestly do it all again, even knowing the outcome now. Who knows how she’s really feeling on the inside? I mean, staring down jail time is scary.
[00:18:38] So Dana, her sentencing is today. What could that look like for Zoe?
Dana Cronin: [00:18:43] So she’s facing up to almost five years in prison. Honestly, I think it’s pretty unlikely she gets that full sentence. The DA’s office this week did ask the judge to sentence her to 180 days in jail. Their argument is that she lacks remorse for what she did, and so she should serve jail time. So we will have to just see what the judge ultimately decides.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:19:12] I mean we were talking earlier, Dana, about how these debates around animal welfare seem to have just really centered on Sonoma County in the last few years. Why do you think that is?
Dana Cronin: [00:19:26] I think really in large part it’s because of this activist group, Direct Action Everywhere. I think they’ve really taken aim at Sonoma County over the past five years or so. They were the ones behind that ballot measure that you may have heard of last year, Measure J, which would have banned large farms in the county. That measure was overwhelmingly defeated by voters there. But Direct Action Everywhere garnered a lot of attention for their effort in promoting it. This group has certainly shown no sign of slowing down. In fact, I think this trial has garnered them even more attention. And as Sonoma County farmers are increasingly frustrated with these tactics, this is an example of that tension sort of coming to a head.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:20:32] Such a wild, wild story, Dana. Thank you so much for breaking it down for us. I appreciate it.
Dana Cronin: [00:20:38] Of course.
