SAN FRANCISCO — A California animal rights activist who took four chickens from a major Perdue Farms poultry plant was found guilty Wednesday of trespassing and other charges, which could carry a sentence of up to five years.

Zoe Rosenberg, 23, did not deny taking the animals from Petaluma Poultry but argued she wasn't breaking the law because she was rescuing the birds from a cruel situation. The trial lasted about seven weeks in Sonoma County, an agricultural area of Northern California.

The Santa Rosa jury took less than a day to find Rosenberg guilty on all counts. The activist with Direct Action Everywhere, or DxE, a Berkeley-based animal rights group, was on trial for two misdemeanor counts of trespassing, a misdemeanor count of tampering with a vehicle and a felony conspiracy char

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