ANIMAL RIGHTS
Zoe Rosenberg, UC Berkeley student, animal welfare activist with Direct Action Everywhere, and founder of the Happy Hen Animal Sanctuary in California has been sentenced to 90 days in custody and must pay more than $102,000 in restitution after a rescue mission turned into pressed charges.
In June of 2023, Rosenberg removed four chickens from Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse after breaking into the farm.
Rosenberg denies having done anything wrong, stating that the animals were “covered in wounds and infested with parasites” during the time of the rescue. She also claims that slaughterhouse documents show that birds are sometimes boiled alive due to negligence and deemed as “cadavers”.
After placing the chickens in an animal rescue, she urged the public to join her in calling for a law enforcement investigation to prosecute the company that abused them.
“Instead, I was arrested on a warrant months later and I’ve been forced to wear an ankle monitor for over 600 days while awaiting this trial,” she said.
Since the sentencing, Rosenberg and fellow animal advocates have taken to social media asking followers to write California Governer Gavin Newsom at FreeZoe.org to ask for Rosenberg’s release and pardon.
“Rescue is not a crime,” one social media post read, from Direct Action Everywhere.
Advocates also show concern over Rosenberg’s health and safety, as allegedly during the time of the arrest, the jail threatened to take away her insulin pump, which she needs for her Type 1 diabetes – a condition she has experienced since childhood. Ronsenberg shares the concerns herself, as the provider of the jail where she has been sentenced uses the medical provider WellPath, which has a history of lawsuits for medical neglect and is now declaring bankruptcy.
Rosenberg states that if she goes without insulin for even a handful of hours, she could end up hospitalized – or worse.
Rosenberg is set to turn herself in on December 10th at 7:00 pm. She is still pleading for the public to write the Governor asking for her pardon.
Meanwhile, the chickens she rescued – named Poppy, Ivy, Aster, and Azalea, have been transported to an animal rescue where they are healthy being cared for.
From INSTAGRAM:
I don’t want to go to jail, but I am incredibly grateful that my impending incarceration is at least shining a light on the horrors animals go through every day on Perdue’s factory farms and at their Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse. This is just some of the top press coverage in the last 24 hours and many of these stories discuss the years of animal cruelty evidence we have gathered at Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry facilities.
I know that no matter what, Poppy, Ivy, Aster, and Azalea will continue to have their stories heard. Our movement will continue to speak up, loud and clear, for all of the animals who have never experienced freedom for even a moment of their lives. Even through a trial that didn’t go our way, we managed to force the issue of animal rights into the international spotlight. The tide is turning and someday soon, corporations like Perdue will be held accountable for the ways they treat animals. Someday soon, every animal will be safe, happy, and free.
