Why the Zoe Rosenberg Chicken Rescue Trial Is Getting Gavel to Gavel Coverage on UnchainedTV

A David & Goliath courtroom battle pits 23-year old animal cruelty investigator Zoe Rosenberg against one of the world’s most powerful industries: animal agriculture. It’s a case that could make history. 

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, UNITED STATES, September 17, 2025 –  The long-anticipated trial of animal rights activist Zoe Rosenberg has finally started in Sonoma County, California, and UnchainedTV is the only news organization providing live, gavel-to-gavel coverage of this historic criminal case. With the potential to reshape how animal rescues are viewed under the law, this case has galvanized activists, legal scholars, and the general public alike. And now, all eyes are on the courtroom. At the heart of the case are 4 rescued chickens named Poppy, Ivy, Aster, and Azalea.

Zoe Rosenberg, an animal cruelty investigator affiliated with Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), faces one felony conspiracy charge and three misdemeanors, including two counts of trespass and one count of vehicle tampering. If convicted on all counts, she could spend almost 5 years behind bars. On Day One of the trial, Zoe gave a rousing speech outside the courthouse, surrounded by dozens of supporters holding RightToRescue.com signs. Her charges stem from a 2023 rescue in which Rosenberg removed those four chickens – whom she said were very sick and suffering – from a truck inside Petaluma Poultry, a Perdue-owned slaughterhouse in Northern California. She and her legal team argue the rescue was a direct response to ongoing, unaddressed, systemic animal cruelty that she says violates animal cruelty laws.

New York Times Coverage

The case has gotten coverage in the New York Times, which reported, “Ms. Rosenberg, 23, says that she found chickens at Petaluma Poultry covered in scratches and bruises, including some with high fevers and serious infections. There was also evidence, she said, that birds were being scalded alive, instead of killed before boiling, because the slaughter lines were moving too quickly.” Perdue denies those allegations, insisting it has high animal welfare standards and calling DxE, “…an animal rights extremist organization, founded with the agenda of ‘destroying’ or ‘canceling’ animal agriculture.” UnchainedTV invites Perdue and Petaluma Poultry on to respond further at any time.

UnchainedTV Live Coverage

UnchainedTV’s Jane Velez-Mitchell is anchoring live coverage from the network’s Los Angeles studio, with reporter Johnny Mora at the courthouse, located about 55 miles north of San Francisco, plus a panel of attorneys and experts from around the nation who will provide real-time commentary and context as the proceedings unfold. “This trial is history in the making, ” said Velez-Mitchell adding, “Chickens are, by far, the animal most consumed for food, with tens of billions of them killed yearly. So, we will see if this case ends up putting, not just Zoe Rosenberg… but also animal agriculture, on trial.” UnchainedTV’s LIVE coverage will begin, on most days, around the lunch break at NOON pacific/3pm eastern, with court dark on Wednesdays. Observers say the trial could last several weeks.

With no cameras allowed inside the courtroom, UnchainedTV’s coverage will supply the play by play of the courtroom drama. Among the expert commentators are Shaka Smith, a respected attorney and legal analyst, attorney Christina Ku, known for her work in animal law, and attorney Justine Block who brings a sharp lens to matters of civil disobedience and justice. Adding a powerful emotional and ethical perspective is Renee King-Sonnen, a former cattle rancher who transformed her property into a sanctuary for farmed animals. Tiffany Brunelli, a retired law enforcement investigator turned DxE member, was right there as Zoe was arrested and has many insights. Others, like Ellen Dent of Animal Alliance Network, will be joining throughout the trial. Their combined expertise will ensure UnchainedTV viewers understand every critical development, motion, and courtroom twist. Could this case set a legal precedent for future animal rescues? Just one of the questions swirling around the trial.

Adding to the drama is Rosenberg’s recent hospitalization related to her lifelong struggle with Type 1 diabetes. As day one of the trial began, Zoe rallied to give a passionate speech at a news conference outside court, attended by more than 40 DxE members and mainstream media.

Zoe’s Speech on Day 1 of Trial

 Rosenberg’s Legal Team

Rosenberg’s legal team, which includes Chris Carraway of the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project and California-based attorney Kevin Little, is expected to mount a defense rooted in Rosenberg’s belief that her actions were both necessary and legal. As legal arguments unfold, broader questions emerge: Can factory farming practices be put on trial through the actions of a single rescuer? Will the public and jury see Rosenberg as a criminal—or a heroic whistleblower?

With emotional stakes running high, passionate support from fellow activists, and legal arguments that could ripple far beyond this one case, the trial of Zoe Rosenberg is shaping up to be a landmark moment in the animal rights movement. And thanks to UnchainedTV’s team-led coverage, audiences around the world can witness history in the making.

Entire Transcript of Zoe Rosenberg’s Courthouse Speech On Day 1 of the Trial

“I just got out of the hospital and one of my biggest fears throughout my hospital stay was that I wouldn’t be able to be here with all of you because while the next few weeks will be some of the most important weeks of my life, they are also important for a much, much bigger reason. Less than a 30-minute drive from here, nestled between a Starbucks and a subway, lies Purdue’s Petaluma Poultry Slaughterhouse. The cumulative sum of suffering that has been felt in this one single place is too overwhelming to even attempt to fathom.

They confine, neglect, maim, and boil baby birds in mass. Nearly every single day, more than 40,000 chickens face unimaginable and often criminal mistreatment. Repeated attempts to report this facility’s misconduct have proved futile.

After seeing law enforcement’s failure to act, I took action into my own hands. And on June 13, 2023, I entered Purdue’s Petaluma Poultry Slaughterhouse. A transport truck had just parked behind the slaughterhouse fence.

On the bed of this truck sat dozens of plastic crates. Thousands of chickens had been loaded into these cages like cargo, packed together so tightly that they could barely stand or turn around. Each and every one of these chickens was an individual with a personality, thoughts, and feelings.

Each and every one of them had been deprived of just about everything from the moment that they had hatched. Soon, they would be deprived of the one thing that they had left. Their lives.

I pulled open one of the crates. They slide out like drawers. Over a dozen pairs of eyes peered around, startled by my intrusion.

There was one chicken who stood out from the rest. She was small and pale. I lifted her from the cage, examining her.

I placed her in a padded bucket so we would not draw attention as we left the facility. I closed that crate and I slid open another. I removed three more chickens who appeared to be sick and suffering, and I placed them each in their own individual buckets.

I named these four chickens Poppy, Ivy, Aster, and Azalea. They were covered in scratches and bruises and small wounds. They were infested with coccidia parasites.

Poppy had an injured toe and a respiratory infection. She was choking on mucus. Aster had infected feet.

They were swollen and filled with pus. I got them medical care, and they shared their stories with the world, calling on the public to join me and asking Sonoma County law enforcement to please finally do something to address the animal cruelty and neglect at Purdue’s facilities. And the rescue of these four little chickens did finally spark law enforcement intervention, just not in the way I had hoped.

Instead of investigating years of criminal animal cruelty, they set off on a mission to gather evidence on me and on what was perhaps the first act of compassion to ever be carried out within a slaughterhouse’s carefully constructed walls. And so today, on September 15, 2025, I will enter a courtroom to be tried on felony and misdemeanor charges for this act of rescue. If convicted, I face nearly half a decade in jail.

I have spent the past over 600 days being forced to wear an ankle monitor and adhere to other strict conditions in order to remain out of custody while awaiting this trial. In many ways, despite having never been convicted of a crime, I have spent the past nearly two years being treated as though I have already been found guilty. Nevertheless, I will walk into trial today and every day with my head held high.

I refuse to accept that helping a few baby birds makes me a criminal, let alone a dangerous one. I refuse to accept that companies have the right to torture and kill as they please. And in this trial, I will not apologize.

To apologize would be to say that Poppy, Ivy, Asher, and Azalea deserved the fates that they were saved from. It would be to say that they deserved to shiver in a crate, covered in scrapes and bruises, as parasites consumed them from the inside out. It would be to say that they deserved suffering and death.

And so any utterance of an apology would be a lie. They deserve to be rescued. And they deserve the safe and happy lives that they now live today.

Of course, it is those safe and happy lives that they now enjoy that angers the powers that be. Every day that they survive is, intentionally or not, an act of defiance. Every moment that they feel the sun on their backs, every breath of fresh air that they inhale, and every piece of grass that they swallow is an act of rebellion.

It is an act that angers Purdue and Sonoma County law enforcement and every agency or company that benefits from the status quo. Even the FBI is frightened by their freedom. They are frightened by what their freedom and, more importantly, their stories represent.

Their stories are a reminder that every animal who is suffering at the hands of animal agriculture is someone, someone with a life worth living. Their stories are a reminder that it doesn’t have to be this way, that instead of treating animals with apathy, indifference, and even outright violence, we can instead treat them with compassion and respect. And one of the things that I most wish to see come from this prosecution, from this trial, is for the world to learn the stories of the chickens who have escaped the cruel realities at Purdue’s Petaluma poultry facilities.

The stories of most animals who fall victim to human supremacy have been or will be lost to history, and so we must remember the few who we can. When I took Poppy, Ivy, Asher, and Azalea into my arms, I wasn’t just vowing to care for them and protect them. I was also making a commitment to share their stories and, if needed, to represent them in the court of law.

Of course, I wish that I was representing them in the context of Purdue being prosecuted or sued, but it is what it is. No matter what, the world needs to know what they endured, how they survived, and who they are. The world needs to remember their names, and the authorities desperately want them to be forgotten.

As I stand here today, I do not know what lies ahead. I am just wrapping up as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, and in many ways my life is just beginning, but my future feels incredibly uncertain. In a few weeks, I might be a convicted felon.

I might be on house arrest. I might be in jail. I might be in jail being denied medical care that I need to survive, which is now even more concerning, as in the last couple of months my stomach has become partially paralyzed, which is why I now have a feeding tube that runs from my nose into my small intestine.

I do not know what lies ahead, but there is one thing that I do know for certain, and that is that for billions of animals, their futures are set in stone long before they are ever born. They are sentenced to die before they even breathe their first breaths. So what I am facing might be scary, but the consequences of our inaction are much, much scarier.

For the animals, the cost of allowing the world to continue as it is, is simply far too great. I believe that the future of the animal rights movement depends on how we handle moments like this, and we must not hide. We must not cower in fear.

We all have a part to play, and we must show Sonoma County law enforcement, Purdue, and the world that we will not be silenced. We will continue to take action for Poppy, Ivy, Aster, and Azalea, and every animal whose cries for help have gone unanswered. And if I do go to jail, if I lose this case and my freedom, please try not to be discouraged.

This entire prosecution is just an industry stunt, meant to scare activists and fool the public into believing that animal rescuers are dangerous criminals. I am just one person, and no matter what happens to me, hope will not be lost. Life will go on.

Dogs will wrestle in the park. Bugs will crawl forth from their homes. Yeasts will splash in ponds, and birds will sing to the rising sun.

But also, chickens will scream as the life is torn from their bodies. Mother pigs will slam their heads against the bars of their crates, desperate to protect their babies from the men who come to mutilate them. Cows will seize in pain as they are electrocuted by metal prods.

Life will go on, but so will violence. And that is why I need all of you to promise me something. Promise me that no matter what, you will not give up.

Promise me you’ll take action. Promise me you’ll protest. Promise me you’ll rescue the victims of these violent industries.

Promise me, and more importantly, promise the animals that you will fight like hell. I know that regardless of the outcome of this trial, the animal rights movement will continue forward. It is that knowledge that gives me the courage to walk into this courtroom today.

It is that knowledge that gives me the strength to face whatever the outcome of this trial might be. Let’s do this.