Why I will never stop doing Open Rescues, no matter how many times they charge me for it

Diane Gandee Sorbi, DxE Open Rescue Investigator

The stench hits you long before you arrive at the facility. We know we are headed for a place of misery. Suddenly, off to the side, we spot a horrifying scene: the body of a mother pig, casually draped over the side of a dumpster. A once living being, with interests and desires of her own, treated as mere garbage. There was no burial for this individual. To the industry she was nothing more than a product. An object. A thing. This is one of the reasons I participate in open rescue. The stories of these brutalized animals need to be told.

Open rescue work is challenging and can be traumatizing, as I was once again reminded while investigating Circle Four Farms in Utah, a massive pig farm which supplies to Costco. Trudging through deep snow at 3AM when it’s 18 degrees isn’t pleasant. Tension runs high, as when my teammate and I were doing lookout, and twice a vehicle pulled up behind ours, flashing their lights into the car for several minutes. Fortunately, the anticipated knock on the window never materialized. In a society such as ours, where some laws are profoundly unjust, there is a lot at stake. I have already accrued multiple charges for simply trying to save an innocent life.

Some may question whether it is worth it. Why risk incarceration, why travel across the country to face unimaginable horrors, if we are only able to help a few animals at a time? For me, it is because each one of those lives is precious and valuable. Countless lives have already been needlessly lost. We are opening a window so that others may view the harsh reality of their commodification. One day we will look back on our exploitation of animals with disgust and shame. Until that day, I will continue to fight for their right to be free. Because the moment one of those lovely beings who was formerly imprisoned in the hell known as animal agriculture takes their first step of freedom, I know it was all worth it.

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