WEBVTT

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I want to tell you a story most unlikely—

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a story of how a fatal crash saved eight lives.

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You see, an accident, however brutal and horrifying, 
is a miracle of sorts—

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if you're on the way to your execution.

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Meet the Liber8ed.

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Part One of this documentary chronicled the accident that granted these eight cows

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bound for slaughter

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a chance at life,

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and their subsequent rescue.

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Now, in Part Two, you'll get to meet these survivors—
each an individual in their own right.

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Iowa Farm Sanctuary co-founder Shawn has been 
with the boys

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ever since that day we finally found them,

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shaken and terrified

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and brought them to their forever home.

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So I thought it was only fitting

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to have her narrate their stories.

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Emily: Meet Max

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Shawn: Of all the survivors, Max had the most 
blatantly obvious injuries—bleeding from his nose,

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mouth, and right eye. Because of this, 
he was the first to go to the hospital,

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making the two hour journey the day 
after the accident.

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Given his painfully visible wounds,

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and certain there was additional internal 
trauma,

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we were not optimistic about Max's future.

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The swelling around his eye was so 
intense that the doctors were unable to perform

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scans until a few days after his arrival at 
the clinic,

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when it had gone down enough.

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The scans revealed that Max sustained multiple 
fractures to his jaw and orbital bones

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but due to his critical condition, he was not a candidate for surgery.

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Dehydrated and unable to eat, 
given the immense pain of his broken jaw,

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Max still remained trusting and gentle,

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quickly endearing himself with the veterinary staff,

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who said he was like a really, really big dog.

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After a few weeks, Max was cleared to come home

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as long as we as we were able to
administer his eye and pain medications.

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Due to the trauma he endured,

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Max's face is paralyzed

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evidenced by his drooping ear and heavy tongue when he eats.

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We do not know what 
sort of, if any, vision he has in his right eye.

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I gave Max his name after the movie character "Mad 
Max"

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who was always a survivor of very traumatic experiences.

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The pain and suffering our Max 
endured is undeniable,

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yet he is the most loving, sweet, 
trusting, beautiful creature.

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His strength and forgiveness is admirable.

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Emily: Meet Tucker.

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Shawn: You can immediately tell Tucker

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apart from his brothers because 
of his long, curly hair.

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After the accident, we 
noticed Tucker seemed to have some

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difficulty eating and some of 
his teeth were visibly crooked.

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At ISU (Iowa State University's Large 
Animal Hospital) , the doctors found some

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pretty substantial damage inside Tucker's 
mouth that would have to heal on its own.

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They informed us that over time, Tucker would 
likely loose the teeth knocked loose by the crash,

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but that miraculously he'd not 
sustained any major injuries.

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Tucker was named by Chelsea Wilde, in honor 
of her family.

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Now home at the Sanctuary, 
Tucker tends to hang back,

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letting his brothers make sure 
things are safe before he follows.

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Still, as cautious as he is, Tucker will 
occasionally take treats from our hands.

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He's an incredibly gentle being—a temperament 
perfectly complimented by his soft, fluffy coat.

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Emily: Meet Charlie.

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In Part One, Charlie’s brothers 
protectively shielded him

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upon their arrival at the Sanctuary.

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They knew what wasn’t immediately apparent 
to us at the time,

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Charlie had sustained the most 
severe injuries of the group.

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Shawn: Charlie was the only brown cow of the 
brothers—aptly named by a long time supporter

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and friend of Iowa Farm Sanctuary, who was 
at the scene of the accident.

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While it was obvious as he exited 
the trailer the day of the accident

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that Charlie's back leg was injured,

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we would have never guessed that he'd sustained a 
shattered pelvis;

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a devastating injury for a cow.

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We made the two hour trip to bring Charlie and his 
brother Bhramena

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to Iowa State University's Large Animal Hospital.

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After X-raying Charlie, the veterinary 
team informed us that due

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to the nature and extent of his injuries, 
there was no way to repair his fractures.

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Charlie was the first of the Liber8ed 
to whom we were forced to say goodbye.

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We were able to find some some solace only 
in the fact that he was able to experience

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being treated with love and 
kindness by human beings

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however briefly so,

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before he passed.

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Emily: Meet Bhramena,

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whom I had the honor of naming

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Bhramena is 
Sanskrit for "by mistake" or "accidentally."

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Shawn: It was perfect because he quite 
literally came into our lives

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by and due to an accident.

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Like Charlie, Bhramena 
had obvious injuries to his back legs.

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Both were lacerated down to the bone.

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At ISU hospital, the doctors suspected

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that Bhramena may have had a patch of dead bone

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in one of his legs, caused by 
an interruption of blood supply from a fracture

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Before they were able to surgically remove the 
bone, an infection had spread to both legs.

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The ISU team explored every possible option

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to give Bhramena a chance at 
having any quality of life.

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If only one leg had been injured, 
there may have had more options,

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but with two legs completely compromised,

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the veterinarians cautioned us 
to start preparing for the worst.

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Ten days after saying goodbye to Charlie,

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we had to say another tearful 
farewell to our dear Bhramena.

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We certainly wish we could have 
known these sweet boys better.

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At the very least, they were able to pass with 
as much comfort, care and love as possible.

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Emily: Meet Frank

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Shawn: Unlike some of his brothers, Frank's 
injuries were painfully obvious:

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his tail was completely severed during the accident and his lip was lacerated down to the bone.

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While the wound on what remained of his tail had begun to heal on its own,

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his lip required medical attention at the ISU clinic.

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The doctors drained an abscess on 
his jaw and assured us that he was healing well.

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Frank was named by my husband Jered—short for the moniker "Frank the Tank"

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Of all his brothers, Frank is 
certainly the most cautious.

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Even a month and a half after the accident,

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he still wouldn't let us anywhere near him—and 
who could blame him, given all he'd been through!

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We've respected Frank's boundaries, 
letting him set his own terms.

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Over time, he began allowing us 
to come within arm's length

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as long as we had his favorite treats on hand

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and has now graduated to accepting 
and relishing back rubs.

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Emily: Meet Cooper

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Shawn: Two days after the accident, after putting 
the other sanctuary residents to bed,

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I went to check on the Liber8ed and thought that I'd found 
Cooper dead.

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As I got closer, I noticed he was

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still breathing—but it was incredibly labored. His 
eyes were rolled back and his stomach was bloated.

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I struggled with whether I should let him go 
peacefully or jostle him enough to make him fight

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I decided to pick his head 
up and rest it in my lap,

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stroking his neck and comforting him in 
whatever decision he made.

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He chose to fight.

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He fought for the two hour drive to ISU and for an agonizing month thereafter.

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Initially, Cooper had to have the inside 
toe of his back left leg amputated,

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and miraculously made it through the procedure.

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But while Cooper's surgical wound was 
healing well, a large laceration on the

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other toe wasn't responding to antibiotics, and 
X-rays revealed breakdown in the remaining bone.

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The veterinarians continued to monitor his status, 
but with Cooper's compromised mobility, the

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bone continued to deteriorate and the infection spread to his joint.

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We were given two options:

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amputate the other toe of his hoof, which would require a prosthetic,

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or perform an operation that
had never been done before

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surgically inserting metal rods in 
Cooper's leg right

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above his ankle and building a cast extending past 
the bottom of his foot with a prosthetic hoof,

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so that when he walked, he'd be 
putting weight on rods, not his foot.

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With the doctors' guidance, 
we chose the second option,

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with amputation remaining a last resort.

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The vets also performed a bone graph to the compromised bone.

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Cooper made it through surgery, and 
we were hopeful for his recovery.

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Two weeks later, when removing his 
cast, pus poured out from Coopers leg.

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The vets found an infection where 
the bone graph was harvested

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and scans showed the deterioration had 
progressed to other bones in his leg.

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We were told that at this point, 
his injuries were catastrophic.

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He was in immense pain, despite medication,

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and there was no chance of recouping the damage that had been caused by the infection.

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He was not responding to antibiotics 
due to an immunity

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built up from all the antibiotics so-called "food animals" are fed throughout their abbreviated lives.

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Cooper suffered through, 
fought, and endured so much

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even a surgery that no other bovine ever had.

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Yet after all of that, we 
lost him to an infection.

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An infection that should have been treatable.

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While Cooper escaped his fated 
slaughter that day on the highway,

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his life was still 
ultimately taken by our food industry.

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Emily: Meet Django

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Shawn: Decidedly the leader of the group.

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Django is usually found keeping watch 
over his brothers

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and is always the first to come running for food, water and head rubs when he sees us.

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I call him black beauty.

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He's absolutely gorgeous

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with the deepest eyes, the cutest mop 
on his head and always a swagger to his step.

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A couple who supports and visits IFS every 
chance they get, named Django

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after a Quentin Tarantino's movie centering 
around a freed slave in the American South,

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because Django too is now free

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of the industry that bred, confined, and 
shipped him and his brother off to their deaths.

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Emily: Meet Rocco

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Shawn: Unlike the rest of his brothers,

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Rocco somehow managed to survive the accident 
without sustaining any major injuries, and thus

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was the only one of the Liber8ed who never visited 
the hospital.

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Over a period of a month and a half, Rocco watched his brothers be loaded into our trailer

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and taken away, some never to return.

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Rocco formed a tight bond with his brother Django,

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and while he didn't like it when we took 
anyone to ISU, the day we loaded his best

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friend into the trailer to join the remaining 
survivors at the hospital, Rocco began crying

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out so fiercely that we feared he'd take 
down our fencing trying to get to Django.

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We moved Rocco to a large stall, but 
upon arriving back home after a few hours

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found that he'd busted his way out.

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When we finally brought Django home five days later,

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Rocco, who'd not been shy in displaying 
his displeasure with his brothers' absence,

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began skipping and bucking around the pasture 
in the most beautiful happy-cow dance.

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Rocco—derived from Italian and Germanic elements meaning "rest"

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was named by IFS supporter Kris G, ( aka the Sentient Beast.)

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With his brother's home 
and Django stepping back into his leadership role,

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Rocco relaxed dramatically.

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He's still learning that some humans can be trusted

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a lesson that would be understandably 
difficult to accept when all you've

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ever known from our species 
is fear, pain, and heartbreak.

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Emily: If it wasn't for that accident 
that day, these boys would have reached

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their intended destination as planned and 
been killed, bled out and hacked apart.

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This fate is harder for us to stomach once we've 
learned their names and heard their stories.

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However, it's vital to realize that these eight 
are no more important than those not so fortunate.

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It is not our acknowledgement of their 
individuality that gives them value.

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They had value before the crash 
hurled their bodies into our path.

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They had value before they were given names;

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and the more than 822,000 cows whose trucks 
made it to a slaughterhouse that day

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They too had value;

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They too had stories.

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They too were individuals.

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To support the life-saving efforts 
of IFS, visit IowaFarmSanctuary.org

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and to help Bite Size Vegan 
create more content like this,

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visit BiteSizeVegan.org/Support.