Sonoma District Attorney Drops Charges Against Animal Rescuers Before Trial

Head of Vanguard's Sacramento office

SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA – Another charge of aggravated burglary against Zoe Rosenberg – an animal rescuer with Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) – was dropped by prosecutors here last week, according to a statement from DxE to The Vanguard.

Rosenberg, who was originally charged with numerous felonies and misdemeanors in Sonoma County, is charged with “removing four chickens from Perdue's Petaluma poultry slaughterhouse in June 2023,” DxE said.

“Ms. Rosenberg's defense attorneys have filed a 995 motion arguing that the evidence does not support the charges against her, which prosecutors have admitted with respect to the burglary charge. The court is expected to dismiss the charges at Ms. Rosenberg's next hearing on September 4,” DxE added.

“Prosecutors have known the facts of this case for nearly nine months and still don't know what to charge,” said Chris Carraway, Rosenberg's attorney and an attorney with the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project. “It's obviously not easy to portray a Good Samaritan as a criminal.”

DxE stated, “This is the third time charges have been dropped in Ms. Rosenberg's case. She was originally charged with five felonies, but prosecutors dropped one felony earlier this year after defense attorneys alerted the court that it was not a criminal offense… in May, at the conclusion of Ms. Rosenberg's preliminary hearing, Judge Lynnette Brown dropped three of the remaining four felonies because insufficient evidence had been presented at the hearing.”

DxE added that the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office has filed new charges, including aggravated burglary, which was just dropped.

Rosenberg still faces one felony and four misdemeanor charges and more than five years in prison, DxE said, adding that Rosenberg “was arrested in November while on his way to deliver evidence of animal cruelty at Petaluma Poultry to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office.”

“Petaluma Poultry is a free-range, partially organic subsidiary of Perdue Farms, the fourth-largest poultry producer in the United States. The company supplies major grocery chains such as Trader Joe's and Safeway. Petaluma Poultry lost its celebrity ambassador, Food Network chef Tyler Florence, this month when Florence decided to cut ties with the company after repeated protests from DxE,” DxE said in a statement.

Rosenberg and other activists from Direct Action Everywhere have reported illegal animal cruelty at Petaluma Poultry and other factory farms in the county to authorities, but, according to DxE, “although authorities have aggressively pursued animal rights activists, they have taken no action to address the extensive documentation of animal cruelty. In response, activists have themselves rescued sick and injured animals, nursed them back to health, and found them permanent homes in animal shelters.”

“In court, I will be completely frank about what I did and what authorities failed to do to help abused animals,” Rosenberg said. “Hopefully, a jury of my peers will agree that it is not a crime to take a sick animal for medical care.”

“Since 2018, DxE investigators have documented routine violations of California animal welfare laws at several of Petaluma Poultry's poultry farms in Northern California and at the company's slaughterhouse. These include birds collapsed on the ground or lying on their backs, unable to walk to food or water and slowly starving to death; birds with splayed legs; birds with open wounds; and infectious diseases that threaten public health,” DxE said.

The group claims the “findings demonstrate clear violations of California Penal Code Section 597. Specifically, birds that have collapsed and are unable to walk are denied access to food and water, and it is a crime to deprive animals of 'necessary food, fluids or shelter.'”

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995 Motion Direct Action Everywhere Aggravated Burglary Santa Rosa CA Sonoma County dismissed by prosecutor Zoe Rosenberg