Dora must have been holding onto some feeling like hope, because as one of these investigators, whose name is Alicia, passed by her open cage, Dora jumped onto Alicia’s backpack – and stayed.
Please imagine this for a moment: For your whole life, you have been
confined in miserable, filthy conditions, kept alive only because
your body can be used to make a product that’ll be taken from you
and sold. Imagine your sorrow and fear – but also: Imagine your
hope. Would you think, There must be something other than this!
Would you look for a way out? And if you saw one, would you leap at
the opportunity?
Well, that’s exactly what Dora did. She was trapped in a terrible
place – a loud, smelly, crowded place where no one checked on
whether she was healthy or comfortable or happy. The humans there
only checked on whether she was laying an egg every day, so they
could take it, and when she stopped laying an egg every day, they
would kill her.
Dora had probably never been treated with kindness by a human, yet she must have sensed something different when some investigators with Direct Action Everywhere came into the barn where she was imprisoned. She must have been holding onto some feeling like hope, because as one of these investigators, whose name is Alicia, passed by her open cage, Dora jumped onto Alicia’s backpack – and stayed!
The investigators weren’t there to take any animals away. They had
been alerted to the terrible conditions on this factory farm and
were there to document the animals’ suffering, in the hope that
authorities would look into the cruelty occurring there and take
action.
“She wanted to stay right there on my back,” recalls Alicia. “I’ve
been in dozens of chicken farms, and no one has ever attached
themselves to me like Dora did. She did the whole investigation with
us, and when we left, she decided to come with us, too.”
Dora’s courage in rescuing herself changed her life: Now she lives
on a sanctuary, where she is loved and provided with everything she
needs to be the healthiest, happiest little hen she can be – and
despite her traumatic start in life, she continues to show both
trust and curiosity about the world. Dora reminds us that animals
are agents in their own liberation.
They are not voiceless or passive, and we are not their saviors. We are their allies.