In the short film, INDIGO, Phoenix proclaims: 'By our actions, we either have the choice to continue to destroy other beings and the environment, or we begin the process of reversing the damage that we've done'
Vegan actor Joaquin Phoenix rescued two cows from slaughter last year, and both now live at Farm Sanctuary Credit: Gary Smith
Vegan actor and animal advocate Joaquin Phoenix was featured in a short documentary detailing a slaughterhouse rescue he undertook last year.
Titled ‘INDIGO’, the Shaun Monson-directed film features Phoenix and his journey to rescue a cow and her calf from Manning Beef in California. Additionally, it includes Phoenix’s visit to the rescued animals which now live at Farm Sanctuary. It was released on Earth Day this week.
Joaquin Phoenix
Phoenix named the cows after his sister, Liberty, and nephew Indigo – who passed away several years ago.
The rescue came after LA Animal Save called the Joker star following his famous Oscars speech last year. In the film, Phoenix talks frankly about the rescue. He said: “The baby seemed kind of frozen in fear…
“You really get a sense of what they must be feeling – how terrifying their lives have been this far.”
He explained that once he dropped them off at Farm Sanctuary, the animals were nervous and skittish. However, he got the chance to meet some of the other rescued cows. And, the video shows him interacting with them. ‘There was clearly a unique soul in there’, he said.
Farm Sanctuary visit
‘It came as a great release in knowing they were rescued from this factory of death, that they’d be rescued from imminent slaughter. ‘And yet it felt a little bit unresolved because I wanted to see them completely liberated. I wanted to see them as free as possible’, he added in the film.
A year on, he revisited the cows with his sisters. He said ‘it was incredible to see them’ in their natural behavior.
Following the rescue, Joaquin Phoenix received a PETA major award for the ‘Most Inspiring Act Of Kindness To Animals’.
Animal agriculture
Phoenix explained the environmental detriment of animal agriculture is ‘undeniable’. He added: “It’s also an acknowledgment of not only the destruction they feel at our hands but the environment as a whole. “By our actions, we either have the choice to continue to destroy other beings and the environment. Or – we begin the process of reversing the damage that we’ve done.”
Phoenix in INDIGO
Joaquin Phoenix talks candidly in the film about the rescue from a ‘factory of death’ Credit: Gary Smith
Meat production is estimated to ‘double’ by 2050, it states. This is a vast increase on the already ’80 billion animals currently slaughtered every year’.
Moreover, it concludes: ‘Climate change is imminent if we do not adopt a plant-based lifestyle’.
You can find out more about Farm Sanctuary here
The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of The Greanville Post. However, we do think they are important enough to be transmitted to a wider audience.
Thank you for visiting our animal defence section. Before leaving, please take a moment to reflect on these mind-numbing institutionalized cruelties. 
The wheels of business and human food compulsions are implacable and totally lacking in compassion. This is a downed cow, badly hurt, but still being dragged to slaughter. Click on this image to fully appreciate this horror repeated millions of times every day around the world. With plentiful non-animal meat substitutes that fool the palate, there is no longer reason for this senseless suffering. And meat consumption is a serious ecoanimal crime. The tyranny of the palate must be broken. Please consider changing your habits and those around you in this regard.
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