Joaquin Phoenix rescues cow and her week-old calf from slaughterhouse
Footage shows actor and activist Joaquin Phoenix helping rescue a cow and her one-week-old calf from a slaughterhouse in Los Angeles.
Posted online by animal rights organization Farm Sanctuary, the video shows the Oscar winner getting permission from the CEO of the Pico Rivera slaughterhouse, Anthony di Maria, to take the two animals.
Watch the touching moment below:This comes after Phoenix won Best Actor at the Academy Awards for his role in Joker and used his speech to delve into the unsettling realities of dairy farming.
Joaquin Phoenix champions veganism in his Oscars speech for Best Actor:
In his eye-opening speech, the actor said: "We go into the natural world and we plunder it for its resources. We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and when she gives birth, we steal her baby. Even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable.''
"And then we take her milk that's intended for her calf and we put it in our coffee and our cereal.
And I think we fear the idea of personal change because we think that we have to sacrifice something to give something up but human beings, at our best, are so inventive and creative and ingenious, and I think that when we use love and compassion as our guiding principles, we can create, develop, and implement systems of change that are beneficial to all sentient beings and to the environment."
Phoenix rescued the cattle a day after winning the Best Actor gong, Farm Sanctuary president Gene Baur explains.
The 45-year-old was joined by his fiancée Rooney Mara, both of their mothers, Earthlings Director Shaun Monson, Los Angeles Animal Save Founder Amy Jean Davis, and Baur.
After sharing his views with di Maria, the Pico Rivera slaughterhouse CEO allowed him to take the cow, who Phoenix named Liberty, and her week-old calf Indigo. They are currently living at Farm Sanctuary.
The actor says in the video: "I never thought I'd find friendship in a slaughterhouse, but meeting Anthony and opening my heart to his, I realize we might have more in common than we do differences.
Credit: PA "Without his act of kindness, Liberty and her baby calf, Indigo, would have met a terrible demise.
"My hope is, as we watch baby Indigo grow up with her mom Liberty at Farm Sanctuary, that we'll always remember that friendships can emerge in the most unexpected places; and no matter our differences, kindness, and compassion should rule everything around us.
"Although we will continue to fight for the liberation of all animals who suffer in these oppressive systems, we must take pause to acknowledge and celebrate the victories, and the people who helped achieve them.
"Shaun Monson, Amy Jean Davis, and the entire LA Animal Save community, have taken their pain of bearing witness and turned it into effective, diplomatic advocacy for the voiceless. As a result, Liberty and Indigo will never experience cruelty or the touch of a rough hand."