What if I told you there was a place where millions of females were forcefully impregnated as soon as they were fertile and had their babies ripped away from them within hours of being born. This process repeated every single year until they are exhausted and then they are killed as they are no longer useful.
What if I told you that place was here, in our country. What would you think?
Would you be horrified? Would you demand action to stop it from happening? Or would you simply not care?
Those mothers cry for days for their babies, they have no way of fighting their abusers away, they have no rights, no voice.
Their babies are either killed or enslaved, as their mothers, to be impregnated as soon as they themselves become fertile.
These mothers could live long lives, but they are killed at about a quarter of their natural age span. During their horrific and short lives, they will often be kicked and punched, force fed, dragged around and kept in unsanitary conditions.
Would it shock you to know the reason for all this horror is something trivial; just for human sensory pleasure? And would you be even more shocked to know you have been conditioned since birth to ignore these horrors and are likely to be one of the reasons this happens?
Because what I have described are the universal, standard practices of the dairy industry. If you drink milk, eat cheese, yoghurt or any dairy products… then I am afraid to say that you are supporting these horrors. I am not judging you, I used to be you, before I discovered the truth, before I realised how I had been misled and had the truth hidden from me all my life. I thought of myself as an animal lover, I was vegetarian for decades thinking I was helping the animals. When I found out the truth about the Dairy Industry, I vowed to never contribute to that suffering. As a woman and a firm believer in female rights and a person who would like to see the end of all exploitation and speciesism, I had a moral obligation to stop using the products of these horrors.
We’re fed a fairy-tale about dairy farming, but the reality is far darker. Consumers are being conned.
ABIGAIL PENNY,EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ANIMAL EQUALITY UK
Don’t believe this is happening in our country? You probably think it can’t happen in our country, we are a nation of animal lovers, right?? Take a look…click here
Maybe you think they are just dumb animals without feeling, who don’t form bonds with their babies? Did you know that not only do these mothers cry for days or weeks, searching fields for their calves for miles around, but some cows have even been know to try to hide their newborn calves from the farmers they know are coming to taking them away?
The people who are directly responsible for these horrific practices will tell you that you need these products, that they are essential to your health, neglecting to tell you that these products have been linked to increase risks to health in scientific studies.
They will tell you that they are treating these mothers with the highest of welfare… that there are special labels that make sure these mothers are being treated well. It is in their interests to deceive you. The standard practices in the UK, as demonstrated on BBC Panorama, are absolutely shocking and devastating to see. If you are eating these products, you should definitely watch how they are being produced.
So do you want it to stop? Maybe you are now thinking to yourself there must be a kinder way, there must be some moral loophole that means you can carry on having your cheese and eating it! There must be a way that you can carry on without having to change anything….surely?!
Well, no. Sorry. You must be the change you want to see in the world, to coin a quote from Gandhi. If the change you want to see is that these mothers are never again exploited in this way in your name, then your best option is to go vegan.
Well, that’s a bit extreme you may be saying…. but I ask you:
Is it more extreme to stop consuming products that are made from the breast milk of another species and to stop contributing to exploitation and suffering…
or is it more extreme to use innocent mothers in this way for a something that is made to help a baby cow grow and that, as a grown adult who was weaned long ago, you can quite easily live without?
Which seems more extreme to you?
If I have convinced you to at least give it a try, and you feel having a supportive group of people with personal mentors and dietitians on hand to help you to transition would be really helpful, then sign up for Challenge 22 today.
Nonna Ahimsa 