Only one day after the Joker star Joaquin Phoenix advocated for animal rights in his acceptance speech at the Oscars, the actor went and rescued a calf and a cow from a Pico Rivera meat processing facility.
Together with the LA Animal Save activist group, the actor visited the Manning Beef Company where a cow named\ had recently given birth to a calf named. He later named them Liberty and Indigo.
This was the fifth mother-child bovine which the group rescued from there.
Both of the animals now live at the Farm Sanctuary in Acton.
Phoenix’s Hope for a Better Tomorrow
In a written statement, Phoenix wrote that his hope as he watches Indigo growing up with her mother Liberty is that we’ll remember that friendship can appear in the most unexpected places.
Regardless of our differences, kindness and compassion should rule, said the actor.
Joaquin’s Moving Speech for Animal Rights at the Oscars
The speech that the actor delivered while accepting his Oscar for Best Actor in the Joker was warmly received and praised by many.
It even motivated people to make a change, including the actress and HBO Girls star Lena Dunham who informed the public on her Twitter that she’s going vegan and that she’s been inspired by Phoenix’s speech.
The video of Phoenix’s cow and calf rescue appeared in less than 48 hours after he delivered this memorable speech. In his speech, he attacked the cruel farming practices and the general public for tolerating the horrors of the dairy and meat industry.
On the video shared by Farm Sanctuary, the actor and his mother Heart could be seen visiting the factory along with representatives from the organization and a delegation from the Animal Save group.
Making Friends in Unexpected Places
Phoenix spoke to the CEO of the slaughterhouse, Anthony Di Maria, who told the actor of their policy of never killing mothers and calves.
The semantics was lengthy and the debate involved the CEO calling the killings ‘harvest’ and Phoenix referring to them as ‘murders’.
Then, they can be seen escorting the cow and her three-days-old calf into a truck and Phoenix naming them Liberty and Indigo.
The actor mentioned the surprising similarities he discovered he had with Di Maria.
He never thought he would find friendship in a slaughterhouse, but meeting Di Maria and opening his heart, he realized they may have more things in common than not.
He explained that without his kindness, the cow and calf would’ve had a terrible ending.
Though we need to continue the fight for liberating all of the suffering animals, said the actor, we also need to celebrate and acknowledge our victories and those who helped achieve them.
For the actor, inequality, racism, indigenous rights, animal rights, etc. are a fight against injustice and the belief that one nation or one gender or one race has the right to dominate, use, and control another.
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