An Open Letter to California Attorney General Rob Bonta

Written from jail

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Dear Attorney General Rob Bonta,

I write to you from a jail cell in Sonoma County. Serving time in custody has been hard, and it will continue to be, but that's not why I'm writing to you. I want to have a discussion with you about why I am here.

I'm here because Sonoma County's District Attorney's Office and other law enforcement agencies have been and continue to ignore terrible crimes against animals, putting animal rescuers like me in a difficult position of taking action into our own hands or letting animals continue to suffer. I am here because I could not choose the latter.

When law enforcement ignored five years of reporting of criminal animal cruelty at Perdue's Petaluma Poultry facilities, I entered their slaughterhouse and rescued four chickens myself. Their names are Poppy, Ivy, Aster, and Azalea. They were covered in scratches and bruises, infested with parasites and suffering from infections. While Perdue has faced no criminal investigation or prosecution, I was harshly prosecuted and jailed for my act of rescue. But again, I write to you not to ask for assistance for myself, but for these animals.

In 2018, animal cruelty investigators began documenting conditions on Perdue facilities in California. On their factory farms, chickens are crowded together in filthy conditions. Birds are often denied any medical care when they become sick or injured. Dead chickens are routinely left to rot among the living. The Sonoma County Animal Services Office actually referred the owner of one of Perdue's factory farms in Petaluma as a suspect for criminal animal cruelty. No action was ever taken on this referral.

In 2023, I witnessed this cruelty for myself. On their factory farm in Santa Rosa on Hunter Lane, a company document showed that more than 10% of 12,000 baby birds in one shed had died by the time they'd reached just 5 weeks of age. That is a shocking indication of neglect. At the Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse, a document showed 76 birds were boiled alive and condemned as cadavers in just one day.

In 2025, an activist photographed birds arriving to the slaughterhouse on a transport truck. Many chickens were soaked in feces, had gaping wounds, or were too weak or injured to stand. As you likely know, it is illegal in California to subject any animal to needless suffering. There is no need for these birds to endure such pain. It has now been more than 7 years of us reporting these crimes to Sonoma County authorities, just to be ignored or dismissed.

I write to you from this jail cell on behalf of the animals, to beg for your assistance and intervention. This cruelty and suffering has gone on far too long. Once I am out of custody, I'd be happy to come to Sacramento to meet with you or a member of your office. In the meantime, I know you have been sent some of our photo and video evidence of these crimes. I look forward to your response and note that the intervention these animals need from your office is urgent.

Sincerely,

Zoe Rosenberg