Berkeley Animal Rights Activist Sentenced to 30 Days in Jail in Chicken Theft Case

UC Berkeley student and animal rights activist Zoe Rosenberg was sentenced to 30 days in jail on Wednesday afternoon after being convicted of breaking into a Petaluma farm and stealing four chickens in a case that drew international attention.

In addition to the time in custody, Rosenberg was sentenced to 60 days served through a jail alternative and ordered to pay restitution, including over $100,000 to Petaluma Poultry. Her attorneys have already appealed those fines. She is set to report to custody by Dec. 10.

She will also be on supervised probation for two years, and during that time, she is forbidden from going near Petaluma Poultry facilities.

At the sentencing hearing in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Gnoss said the sentence was issued due to Rosenberg’s lack of remorse and to prevent further unlawful actions by her or her associates.

The sentence is far less than the 4 ½-year maximum that Rosenberg, 23, could have faced after being convicted of felony conspiracy and three misdemeanor counts in October. The Sonoma County district attorney’s office had asked the judge to issue a 180-day sentence, calling Rosenberg’s lack of remorse “staggering.”

During the sentencing hearing, Rosenberg’s attorneys argued a jail sentence could put her health at risk, as she has diabetes and gastroparesis, which requires her to carry an insulin pump and feeding tube.

But the district attorney said all of Rosenberg’s medical needs — and even her vegan diet — would be fully accommodated in jail, and urged the judge not to take that into account in issuing a sentence.

The sentencing marks the end of the high-profile criminal case that spiraled out of a series of break-ins to Petaluma Poultry. On four separate occasions, prosecutors said, Rosenberg and a group of organizers with the Berkeley-based animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere entered the farm without permission, went through paperwork and computers, affixed GPS monitors to delivery vehicles and ultimately stole four chickens off a truck bed in June 2023.

Rosenberg never denied the allegations against her. She said the chickens were covered in scratches and bruises and needed to be “rescued.”

Direct Action Everywhere is known for its “open rescues,” in which activists enter farms where they believe animals are being abused and remove them. When asked on the stand if she wanted open rescue “to be something that happens everywhere,” Rosenberg told prosecutors: “Yes.”

Over the course of her six-week trial, Rosenberg’s defense argued that her unlawful actions were justified given the conditions of the chickens. The prosecution, in turn, argued that Rosenberg’s evidence was flimsy and that the theft was a felony that went beyond animal welfare. Ultimately, the jury agreed with the prosecution.

Many Sonoma County ranchers and farmers have called Direct Action Everywhere “extremist” and condemned its tactics as dangerous and unlawful.

“For years, DxE has harassed farm families and workers, trespassed on private property, and stolen from local businesses,” Dayna Ghirardelli, executive director of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, said in the trial’s aftermath. “Our community has consistently rejected their extreme tactics, and this verdict reinforces that.”

Rosenberg’s TikTok posts about her case drew millions of views, and the trial garnered attention from high-profile activists, including actor Joaquin Phoenix, who rebuked the verdict and urged the Sonoma County district attorney to investigate allegations of animal cruelty at Petaluma Poultry.

“When individuals step in to save a life because the system has looked the other way, they should be supported — not prosecuted,” he said in a statement. “We have to decide who we are as a society: one that protects the vulnerable, or one that punishes those who try.”