You’ve seen Earthlings and Food Inc. You’ve heard of Forks Over Knives, Vegucated, and Fast Food Nation. Maybe The Cove and Blackfish are big on your radar. Or you’ve seen Peaceable Kingdom, Fowl Play, or The Witness. Now there’s a new documentary in this vein: Turlock.
Turlock is a documentary about one singular animal rescue story. But instead of a story about one dog or a handful or piglets, this story is about the rescue of THOUSDANDS of chickens. Turlock is the story about the largest animal neglect case in U.S. history.
“When Northern California animal sanctuary Animal Place finds out a factory farm in nearby Turlock has closed, and more than 50,000 hens have been abandoned and left to die without food or water, a team of professionals and volunteers spring into action to save as many lives as they can. Against considerable odds, considerable stakes, and a dramatic standoff with local authorities that leaves them powerless as they witness tremendous animal cruelty, neglect, and suffering, the heroic rescuers somehow find light in the fragile beings they are able to save.”
The film is told through interviews with rescuers intermixed with a handful of video captured during and shortly after the rescue event. It’s a moving story and you can’t help but be affected by it. As you might imagine, it has a happy ending for many of these chickens. But for too many – at Turlock and elsewhere – it wasn’t a happy ending.
You can watch a preview here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i-yB44DsY8. And if you’re compelled, you can host a screening yourself. Details about the film and about hosting a screening are online at the Turlock documentary website: http://www.turlockrescue.org/