Zoe Rosenberg, a 23-year-old UC Berkeley undergrad and animal rights activist, first appeared on the witness stand Friday, about two weeks into a criminal trial centered around the four chickens she took from a Petaluma-area poultry slaughterhouse in June 2023.
Before a jury in a Sonoma County courthouse, Rosenberg testified that she believed at the time that her actions, often called “open rescue,” were “lawfully justified” to prevent what she considered “criminal animal abuse” by Petaluma Poultry, a Sonoma-based operation owned by Perdue Farms, a major poultry supplier nationwide. Prosecutors from Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office argued that regardless of what she believes, what she did was unlawful.
For taking the chickens valued at around $24, Rosenberg is charged with four misdemeanors and felony conspiracy. She faces up to 5½ years in prison…