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Some people might kick back and sleep the day away after a night of partying to celebrate winning the Oscar for Best Actor. But “Joker” star Joaquin Phoenix had a different idea: He saved a cow and her calf from a Los Angeles slaughterhouse.
Phoenix, a vegan, arranged to have the pair collected by Farm Sanctuary in Acton, California, the day after he spoke up for animal rights in his Oscars acceptance speech. He talked that night about how a calf is separated from its mother “even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable, and then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf and we put in our coffee and our cereal.”
A video of his rescue mission shows him meeting Anthony Di Maria, CEO of the slaughterhouse. “I don’t need really any science to see with my own eyes and hear how an animal responds to pain,” Phoenix tells him.
Di Maria says the process at his slaughterhouse is the “most humane harvest” in the country because each animal dies in less than 60 seconds — but Phoenix calls it “murder.” Despite the two men’s wildly different perspectives on animals, they develop a grudging respect for one another.
Calves are sometimes born on the slaughterhouse site, but Di Maria refuses to kill them or their mothers — so that gives Phoenix an opportunity to save Liberty and her week-old calf, Indigo.
“Oh my love,” Phoenix tells Indigo as he reaches into the truck for the calf when they reach safety.
Check out the video above.
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