Yesterday, I was sentenced to serve 90 days in the Sonoma County Jail and pay over $102,000 in restitution as a punishment for rescuing four sick, abused chickens from Perdue's Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse. I will have to turn myself in on December 10th at 7 pm. I have also been ordered to spend two years on supervised probation, maintain employment or remain enrolled as a student, stay away from all Perdue facilities in Sonoma County, and have no contact with several other animal rescuers who I work with.

For the first 30 days of my jail sentence, the judge has barred me from being allowed to even apply for alternative detention, despite my complex health issues that make even a few days in jail incredibly dangerous. It is also important to note that my application for alternative detention could be denied for those latter 60 days. 

The Sonoma County Jail uses the medical provider WellPath. WellPath has been sued over 1,400 times for medical neglect and malpractice and is currently declaring bankruptcy. I have Type 1 Diabetes, a serious autoimmune disease I have lived with since the age of eight. If I go without insulin for even a handful of hours, I could end up hospitalized or worse. If I have a hypoglycemic episode and don't immediately get access to glucose, I could have a seizure, go into a coma, or die. We have no confidence that WellPath will take these concerns seriously given their long history of medical neglect.

As I face these risks, I am thinking constantly about the animals on factory farms and other facilities who are denied even the most basic care, medical or otherwise. We will keep fighting for them and their right to be safe and cared for and I hope to be here at the end of this, alive and well to continue that fight.

Please ask Governor Gavin Newsom to pardon me before I have to turn myself into jail so that my health will not be put into the hands of WellPath and to send a message that animal rescue is not a crime in the first place: FreeZoe.org 

#RightToRescue