Rescue, With Love
I selected only the shot above to post to the usual place, deciding it had the most power all on its own. But the series as a whole was too beautiful not to do something with.
These were taken at The Retreat Animal Rescue Farm Sanctuary, home to well over a thousand survivors of factory farms and slaughterhouses, all nearly victims of the seemingly bottomless human capacity for cruelty, exploitation, and violence – but saved in the end by its opposite and antidote: human kindness, compassion, and love.
All these were taken by a human exemplar of those same qualities, plus irrepressible energy, enthusiasm, and optimism, the beautiful human and animal rights activist Eder Lopez. (Whose remarkable and tireless work on behalf of nonviolence you should absolutely check out on Instagram and particularly YouTube.)
Finally, I can't resist throwing in a few extra shots of the other beautiful and heroic resident survivors, shamelessly stolen from the equally beautiful and even more heroic activist organiser Mark Flood:
As a last point, and perhaps putting quite a fine point on it, unless and until you're vegan, who these animals are being rescued from is: you.
