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Called to Rescue, Redefining Our Barnyard Story

by Jennie Richards · Published October 4, 2017 · Updated February 6, 2020

“Our task must be to free ourselves—by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.” – Albert Einstein

This heart-warming and inspirational documentary highlights the personal stories of people who have responded to the call to rescue farm animals from abuse, cruelty and neglect. Called To Rescue is an inspiring glimpse into life on fifteen farm animal sanctuaries throughout the U.S. Film directors’ Naomi Call and Loghan Call interview animal sanctuary owners and workers to find out how rescuing and working with farm animals forever changed the course of their lives—and the animals’ lives they are helping.

This documentary film is perfect for all ages and contains no difficult graphic images.

Film Length: 1 Hour / 13 Minutes

Film Released: 2016

Definitions

SANCTUARY – (Noun)

(noun): A place where someone or something is protected or given shelter.

(noun): The protection that is provided by a safe place.

SPECIESISM – (Noun)

: Intolerance or discrimination on the basis of species, especially as manifested by cruelty to or exploitation of animals by humans.

: The assumption of human superiority on which speciesism is based.

WATCH THE FILM

Stream or rent the film on Amazon
Purchase the DVD
Learn more about the film on the film website Called To Rescue

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Go Vegan – By far, this will make the biggest impact – just don’t eat them. By eating them, we kill them, and we treat them as property, and support their misery and the cruelty done to them for the food industry.
Take a Pledge to Go Vegan and Help Farm Animals – Take the Pledge and learn how you can help stop industrial factory farming.
Visit an Animal Sanctuary – Meet the farm animals that have been rescued from extreme neglect, abuse and cruelty. Getting to know the animals will help to understand them better, and appreciate their desire to live, be healthy, and be happy—like all animals want to be. Visit our list of farm and wild animal sanctuaries
Support a Farm Animal Sanctuary – Animal sanctuaries depend on volunteers and donations. Here’s a list of animal sanctuaries in the U.S. to get you started
Campaign for Animal Rights – Learn about the issues, get involved with campaigns to make needed changes for farm animals, become politically active, join animal rights groups, join boycotts, sign petitions, and share on social media.
Become Politically Active – Learn about and support state and federal legislation that will help protect animals and animal rights. Visit our page on how to get politically active
Share on Social Media – Encourage others to get involved with animal rights, going vegan, and raising awareness about the suffering experienced by farm animals today.

QUOTES FROM THE FILM

“As children, we grew up with Walt Disney animal films, animated cartoons, stuffed animals, we started out with an age of innocence. Then we see it’s just a myth.”

“Things have changed over the last 40-50 years from when my grandparents grew up, and it’s just horrible now for animals.”

“Most of these animals never leave their cages, or even see the light of the sun until the day they are transported to slaughter.”

“With our current animal agriculture practices, the vast majority of animals raised for food never get the chance to live anything close to a natural life.”

“A tiny fraction of these animals are rescued and brought to sanctuaries.”

“We ate less and less meat because of the way they’re being raised, we just decided that we would stop. It’s the best thing we’ve ever done.”

“When you realize how many animals we are bringing into the world. You put a blind eye when you are a farmer. As farmers, we decided we had to stop.”

“When we see those packages of meat in the grocery, it is so removed from the living animal.”

“I always believed, that I had to run everything through my faith. But it didn’t match up – what I was seeing in Food, Inc. and other documentaries, and my Christian faith.”

“I had to stop eating meat when I developed a relationship with a cow.”

“That meat has a face and a character behind it.”

“We need to ask ourselves why we have a disconnect with certain species, that allows us to love some and eat the others.”

“The first calf we rescued came from the Monroe State Fair in Washington, at the end of the fair they were going to take it to an auction, but I couldn’t let that happen to it, so I put it in the back seat and took it home. It was an amazing animal.”

“Our sanctuary started with my love for a single pig. But it really started with my love for the book Charlotte’s Web, I read it over and over again.”

“I had been diagnosed with cancer, and I thought, wow, I better do what I want while I still can do it. So that’s when we decided to open a farm sanctuary.”

“A woman at the auction saw how badly they were treating this newborn baby calf, because he was sick and couldn’t stand up or walk since he never had his mother’s milk and was starving. The men were poking him and prodding him, and mistreating him, so the woman bought the baby for $7 dollars and brought him to her apartment. We got him later.”

“The animals are better as friends than they are food, clothes or the testers of makeup.”

TURKEYS for THANKSGIVING

In only four months, commercial male turkeys grow to a weight three times heavier than wild adult male turkeys due to selective breeding. Their rapid growth and abnormally heavy bodies can lead to heart problems and painful crippling.

DAIRY COWS & THE DAIRY INDUSTRY

Like all mammals, dairy cows must be impregnated in order to produce milk. Dairy cows spend their entire lives in an unnatural, constant cycle of impregnation, birth and milking. On average, female cows are considered “spent” and then are slaughtered before age five (A normal life span is 25 years).

THE VEAL INDUSTRY

The veal industry was created for a cheap way to use the boy cows. They are tied up, not allowed to walk, fed an iron-deficient diet to make their meat white, then they are slaughtered at 3-4 months old.

PIGS & THE PORK INDUSTRY

At only a few weeks old, piglets are taken from their mothers and undergo a series of mutilations, including being castrated and having a portion of their tails removed without any pain relief. The piglets spend the next six months confined to pens until they reach market weight and are slaughtered.

RESEARCH ANIMALS

Each year, 26 million animals are used for medical research. 95% of which receive no protection, and are not covered by the Federal Animal Welfare Act.

GOOSE & DUCK DOWN

A single down coat is the product of the suffering and sometimes the deaths of many ducks or geese.

“Goose or duck down is made from the bird’s inner feathers that keep them warm. Often birds that are used for down, they will pluck them several times for their feathers, which is extremely traumatizing, and they must regrow their feathers. The new feathers hurt them, large stocks must push through their skin, so it’s extremely stressful and painful for them. To the point that they stop eating for days, while it’s happening. Some birds die from the experience.”

SHEEP & THE WOOL INDUSTRY

Shearers are paid per sheep, not per hour. This policy encourages them o rush through their work, inflicting painful nicks and cuts to the sheep. These wouldn’t easily become infected. In herds of thousands, individual medical care for individual animals is extremely rare.

“As far as wool, we shear our sheep at the sanctuary, but it’s not natural for the sheep, because sheep were genetically modified to produce more wool quickly. Modern sheep cannot shed. If they are not sheared they get mats, contusions underneath, get overheated and die as a result. They are breeding them now to have more skin, to have more wool, which is dangerous for the sheep because the shearing cuts their folds of skin. A common practice that is deeply cruel to lambs, is they have their back ends shaved to prevent maggots, but it causes them raw wounds that get infected.”

THE EGG INDUSTRY & EGG LAYING HENS

Each year an estimated 500 million chickens are killed in the egg industry. Male chicks are crushed alive or gassed immediately after hatching. Females spend one to two years producing eggs before they are killed.

“Primarly we rescue battery-cage hens. They are considered spent by farmers, gassed and trashed in the garbage, when they no longer produce eggs.”