They Scream for Ice Cream: Cruel Separation of Newborn Calves From Their Mothers Prompts PETA India Media Blitz
For Immediate Release:
28 May 2024
Contact:
Sanskriti Bansore; [email protected]
Hiraj Laljani; [email protected]
Hyderabad – Dairy is scary! A striking new plea from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India that reads, “They Scream for Ice Cream. The Dairy Industry Steals Calves From Their Mothers. Please Choose Vegan,” is landing in cities across the country, reminding kind consumers that frightened newborn calves cry out in agony when they are separated from their mothers shortly after birth and that their distressed mothers grieve and call out for their lost babies for days. It is common practice in the dairy industry to take calves from their mothers so their milk can be stolen and sold by humans.
The billboard in Hyderabad is located at 7–10 Inner Ring Road, Owaisi Pura, Masab Tank.
“Behind every scoop of dairy ice cream is a terrified newborn calf and a heartbroken mother who wasn’t allowed to nurse her baby,” says PETA India Manager of Vegan Projects Dr Kiran Ahuja. “The bond between mother and child is sacred for all species, and PETA India urges everyone to choose only vegan milks and ice creams, that leave cows in peace.”
PETA India notes that cows are devoted mothers who form a strong maternal bond within minutes of their calf’s birth – and that their bond can last forever. In Uttara Kannada, a mother cow attempted to block the same bus every day for four years after it killed her baby in a traffic accident. She never tried to stop any other vehicles, and she continued to carry out this act even after the driver changed the colour of the bus.
In India, most people would be astonished to learn that the dairy sector is the primary supplier of cattle to the beef industry and that most family farms are now gone. Today, most cows and buffaloes used for dairy are raised in a factory environment and artificially inseminated (that is, raped, as workers insert an arm into the cow’s rectum and a metal rod carrying bull semen into her vagina). Male calves, who are of no value to the dairy business, are typically cast out to starve. Others are sold to be killed for their flesh and skin, while females are sentenced to the same fate as their mothers: they’re used as milk machines until their bodies give out, at which point, many are abandoned or slaughtered for cheap meat.
PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any other way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information about the organisation’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
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