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It wasn't supposed to be this way.

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They weren't supposed to die...

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...this way.

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It all started with survivors...

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…on my first visit to Iowa Farm Sanctuary,[br]our state's first and only vegan sanctuary

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for farmed animals who have either been liberated[br]or escaped their fate in our food industry.

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Not long after I arrived, IFS co-founder Shawn[br]received a call from her husband.

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A semi truck carrying cows to slaughter had[br]flipped on a highway about 45 minutes away.

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The Sanctuary's only trailer had a blown tire,[br]so they posted a desperate call for help on

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Facebook as we took off for the crash site[br]in hopes of saving any survivors.

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By the time we arrived, they'd been cleaning[br]up for over five hours already.

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But three bodies still remained.

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We could see the legs of one cow projecting[br]upwards from the top of the dumpster, filled

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to the brim with carcasses.

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Walking the path of the truck through the[br]woods, seeing cast off parts wrapped around

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trees from the sheer impact of the descent,[br]the remaining ejected bodies of cows lying

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bloodied in the brush, and the violently contorted[br]remains of the trailer

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it was hard to believe anyone survived.

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Information was scant and scattered.

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We’d heard that the driver was at the hospital—pulled[br]from the wreckage in the river.

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At least twenty cows had died from the impact[br]or were shot on site.

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Some escaped into the woods, and we found[br]the body of one who had tried, but succumbed

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to his internal injuries.

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And there were eight survivors who’d been[br]caught, but their current location was unclear.

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Shawn made call after call, tracing their[br]path, finally getting a tip that they were

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being held at some back-roads location registered[br]to a trucking agency.

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But we arrived to find it largely abandoned,[br]save for an idling empty livestock truck—

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a striking contrast to the mangled remains of the one I’d been inside only

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half an hour ago.

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While Shawn spoke with the driver, I went[br]around back, finding a group of baby cows

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huddled together in a holding pen.

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Recently taken from their mothers, they were[br]likely awaiting transfer to either the veal

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or beef industry—their impending slaughter[br]not a matter of if, but when.

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A man—whom I’ll call Chad—had answered[br]the sanctuary’s plea for a trailer and met

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us at the stop off.

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It was clear within a few minutes that he[br]didn't quite understand what he'd volunteered for.

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This is Iowa.

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The center of America's industrial agriculture.

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The first state to pass the modern Ag Gag[br]laws.

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For many residents, the concept of a farmed[br]animal sanctuary isn’t just unheard of—

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it’s incomprehensible.

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But it would be a mistake—and one we activists[br]often make—to dismiss, or become combative

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with people like Chad.

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When Shawn got a new lead about an equally[br]vague location, the driver of the empty truck—familiar

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with the area’s industry stops—offered[br]to escort us.

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DRIVER: I’m headed up that way.

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I’ll just put my turn signal on where you’re[br]supposed to turn.

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SHAWN: Okay, perfect. We'll follow you. Thank you so much.

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EMILY: Thanks!

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And so we began our unlikely caravan: a livestock[br]truck leading two vegan activists rounded

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out with a beef farmer and his trailer—all[br]off to save some cows.

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And this time, we found them.

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The man in charge—whom I’ll call Frank—was[br]a bit wary at first.

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FRANK: You better get ahold of whoever these[br]cattle belong to.

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In the system we've created, the eight surviving[br]cows were someone’s property.

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And like any business, the “owner” has[br]to assess if they were financially worth recovering.

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While Shawn made another call to what we hoped[br]was the company with legal ownership,

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SHAWN: Have you guys filed a claim with your[br]insurance yet?

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I spoke with Frank about the crash site.

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FRANK: Yeah, I thought for sure he was dead.

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He was one of the first people on the scene[br]and described how initially, they’d mistaken

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the driver’s screams for just another cow[br]crying out in pain.

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FRANK: They could—they could hear him going[br]“Get me out of here.”

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They’d found him pinned in the wreckage,[br]his mouth filling with water from the river

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as he called for help.

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Finally, we were given the go-ahead.

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SHAWN: Alright, thank you so much. Yep, buh-bye.  Alright, let's do it.

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FRANK: That’s right. Back ‘er up.

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And there they were.

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Shaken and terrified.

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With no way of knowing that this final trip[br]of their very long day, had them bound for home.

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Arriving at the Sanctuary, the residents gathered[br]to check out the newcomers.

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And as the eight brothers stepped out of the[br]trailer, they took their first steps

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as free individuals.

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Liberated…by accident.

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As we watched them huddle into the far corner,[br]shielding the most injured of the group—still

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on high alert—Chad, the beef farmer who[br]answered the desperate call of some vegan

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activists, making this entire rescue possible,[br]asked me a question I will never forget:

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CHAD: They just live until they die, or what?

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“Yeah,” I said.

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“They live until they die.”

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In order for us to be able to do what we do[br]to animals and maintain the image we have

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of ourselves as good and decent people—animal[br]lovers, even—we’ve had to distance, disconnect,

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and distract ourselves.

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Construct systems so astoundingly convoluted,[br]that the concept of a chicken, pig, or cow

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living until they die is literally beyond[br]our grasp.

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Yet at the same time, we like to believe that[br]the animals we eat lived a good life.

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That they were well-treated.

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We shield ourselves from the violent deaths[br]they're destined for, shuttering them inside

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metal boxes at which we dare not look too[br]closely, lest we meet their eyes and remember

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that these…are individuals.

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But when a truck flips, spilling their bodies[br]and blood across our path, we're confronted

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not only with the horror of their suffering[br]and deaths, but also with the very thing we've

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had to work so hard to suppress and avoid:[br]our compassion.

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These accidents expose the depth of our disconnect[br]and lay bare our conflicting beliefs: people

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wince at the news of a livestock truck crash,[br]mutter "those poor cows" or "how awful for

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those pigs" without the slightest awareness[br]of the absurdity of their statements.

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Because these very same people will later[br]consume the flesh and secretions of some other

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"poor" cow, pig, or chicken who had the great[br]fortune of their truck making it to the slaughterhouse.

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It all ended with survivors…

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That accident that day—as horrifying as[br]it was, and as terrifying as it must have been

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to experience—for these eight cows, it was[br]a miracle of sorts—their only chance at life.

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Because had everything gone according to plan,[br]they’d have been killed, bled out and hacked

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apart—their deaths no less brutal than their[br]brothers who died in the crash that day.

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But like the other over 822,000 cows slaughtered[br]that day behind closed doors, they’d have

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passed from existence without a single gasp[br]of shock or even quiet whisper of

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“those poor cows.”

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Find out what happened to the survivors in[br]part two.

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To support the life-saving efforts of IFS,[br]visit IowaFarmSanctuary.org and to help Bite

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Size Vegan create more videos like this, see[br]the support link here and in the description.

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Please share this video and subscribe for[br]more content.

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Now go live vegan, and I’ll see you soon.