Table of Contents
On the cruelty involved in milk „production“
Info for those interested in animal protection activities
The cruelty involved in milk „production“
I hadn’t been aware of what the production of milk involves in terms of animal suffering until I read the below excerpts. This has led me to aim to do without any dairy (or only organic dairy, but even this involves the killing of offspring and also cows as far as I know).
This is not a pleasant story but it helped to open my eyes:
"DAIRY AND BEEF GOES HAND IN HAND.The following are only some of million cases every year regarding the cruelty of the industries. Here is an account of calf slaughter (By-products of milk) :
'To get done with them faster, we'd put eight or nine of them in the knocking box at a time...You start shooting, the calves are jumping, they're all piling up on top of each other. You don't know which ones got shot and which didn't.... They're hung anyway, and down the line they go, wriggling and yelling' (to be slaughtered while fully conscious). (Reference Source:
"Slaughterhouse" documentary book by Gail Eisnitz, 1999.).
According to a Special Reports by Humane Farming Asso. (http://www.hfa.org) :
Some of the slaughterhouse workers described:
'When a conscious cow arrives at the first hind-legger hanging upside down, usually the legger tries to make a cut to start skinning out the leg. Unfortunately, it is very difficult and dangerous to do that when an animal is kicking violently. So the legger will cut off the bottom part of the animal's leg he's working on with a pair of clippers.' (Source: Slaughterhouse" Documentary book, by Gail Eisnitz)
Female calves often replace their old, worn-out mothers, or are slaughtered soon after birth for the rennet in their stomachs (an ingredient of most commercial cheeses). They are often kept in tiny crates or tethered in stalls for the first few months of their lives, only to grow up to become "milk machines" like their mothers.
The dairy industry abandons live cows at stockyards when they are no longer "profitable" and drags cows to slaughter with chains when they can still be sold for human consumption. The male offspring of dairy cows are often considered "useless" that they are discarded, often alive, on dairy farms or clubbed to death with canes. (source: http://www.farmsanctuary.org, http://www.nodowners.org/). A friend confirmed that male calves are similarly “stuffed into bins and clubbed to death” by their millions for reasons of conventional dairy and meat profitability.
I recently read in a health-food store magazine on organic eggs that once a hen is no longer profitable in terms of egg production, she will be killed. I wasn't aware of this until then.
Isn't it amazing how humans just take and take and take (and probably few say even thank you for the gifts) and when they have squeezed out as much as is "profitable", they actually kill the respective beings "in recognition"... I think and hope that humans are waking up to what they are doing...
For those interested in animal protection activities...
I have just visited http://www.farmsanctuary.org and http://www.hfa.org (the US Humane Farming Association which campaigns against factory farming and slaughterhouse abuse, "the nation's largest and most effective organization dedicated to the protection of farm animals..."HFA's programs and activities represent the greatest hopes of those seeking to create a better world for all of earth's creatures").
They have many actions to help farm animals one can participate in (the cruelty inflicted upon them is just beyond belief, with insufficient protection legislation “assisting”, but concerted action does help prevent some of it). Farm Sanctuary has some particularly good news:
“Farm Sanctuary has received a generous donation enabling us to offer FREE copies of Life Behind Bars to libraries across the country. Please help us make the most of this incredible opportunity to educate thousands of people through this powerful video on factory farming.
We’ll provide you the materials you need and how-to tips to help you contact your library, and once your library agrees to add the video to their permanent collection, we'll send the video directly to them. It's a simple, easy way to reach and teach thousands of people in your community. Please, get the Life Behind Bars video in your library and be a voice for farm animals! Click here http://www.farmsanctuary.org/campaign/LBB_info.htm.”
As they write in their current "veal campaign", many or most people, once informed about the cruelty involved in veal production, don't want to have part in it, but most do not even know about it. So the above action may be a good step forward.
Love,
Ulla
www.paradisenow.net
January 2004