Three Animal Rights Activists Were Abruptly Arrested Following a Sentencing Hearing for One of Their Friends

Three animal rights activists were unexpectedly arrested on Wednesday afternoon outside a California courthouse, immediately following the sentencing hearing of a fellow activist, Wayne Hsiung. 

Hsiung is an attorney and the co-founder of Direct Action Everywhere, or DxE, an animal rights group that says it documents widespread cruelty in factory farms; he was sentenced to 90 days in jail and two years probation on felony conspiracy and misdemeanor trespassing charges for actions taken at Sunrise Farms, a large egg producer, and Reichardt Duck Farm. Following a press conference outside the courthouse, three other Direct Action Everywhere activists— Zoe Rosenberg, Conrad de Jesus, and Rocky Chau—were taken into custody. The arrests seem to indicate widening enforcement actions against animal rights activists, specifically those belonging to the so-called Right to Rescue movement, who say they take sick and injured animals from factory farms in order to seek veterinary care for them.  At the time of their arrest, the activists were marching to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department to make another report alleging animal cruelty at the farms they have investigated.

Direct Action Everywhere has grabbed an unusual amount of attention—garnering writeups from Wired, Vox, The Intercept, and National Geographic, among others—by relying on what are known as “open rescues,” in which activists using their real names document taking and rehabilitating animals they say are sick, injured, or mistreated. 

All three arrested activists face the same charges Hsiung was just convicted on: felony conspiracy and misdemeanor trespassing. Rosenberg, who is just 21, faces more charges than De Jesus and Chau, according to a DxE spokesperson, with six misdemeanor trespassing charges and seven felonies, all but one for conspiracy and the other for burglary. (Rosenberg is also the founder of Happy Hen Animal Sanctuary, and was arrested for animal rights activism for the first time when she was just 16.) 

Andy Stepanian, a public relations specialist who works with progressive campaigns and causes, told VICE News that de Jesus was arrested by an plainclothes officer, a man wearing an unbuttoned plaid shirt. “He said ‘Conrad?,’ grabbed by his arm and cuffed him,” Stepanian said. “I asked if I could take his phone and the cops yelled at me to stay away.”

The arrests are unusual in large part because DxE has been on a winning streak. Most of its open rescues have not led to criminal charges, and two that did make it to court in the past year resulted in acquittals from juries. (The first, in Utah, concerned the 2017 removal of sick piglets from a factory farm, while the second, in Merced, California, was against two activists who admitted to taking sick chickens from a truck outside a slaughterhouse.) Even Hsiung’s conviction and sentencing were leavened with moments of unique victory. One of the people who submitted a character letter on his behalf was Rick Pitman, a poultry producer who has farms in California and Utah. 

“He didn’t cause any property damage when he came onto the farm or any financial loss by taking one turkey that was very sick,” Pitman wrote in his letter. “I was grateful that he had exposed some rough conditions so we could fix them.” Pitman added, “We’ve learned a lot from each other by agreeing to talk instead of fight. We’ve made lots of improvements to animal welfare at our farms. And every year around Thanksgiving, we free some turkeys and hand them over to Wayne and DxE as a gesture of goodwill between us as farmers and them as activists who care for animal welfare.” 

“Sonoma County has intensified their repression of activists over recent years as our strong presence here has butted up against the powerful animal agriculture industry,” Cassie King, the communications lead for DxE, told VICE News. “Over 100 people have been arrested on felony charges for nonviolent demonstrations where emergency medical aid was provided to animals languishing at factory farms in the county.” 

What activists call “open rescue,” of course, the commercial agricultural industry classifies as stealing. Industry publications like the irresistibly named Pork Business, have covered DxE’s wins with dismay. And in an op-ed for the publication, Abby Kornengay of the Animal Agricultural Alliance, an industry trade group, said they are “working to expose those who threaten our nation’s food security with damaging misinformation,” including DxE. 

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department did not immediately respond to a voice message from VICE News requesting comment on the charges.