Unhappy Mothers' Days
Announcement posted by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Australia 03 May 2019
Dear Editor,
On Mother’s Day, thousands of mothers will be separated from their babies.
In the dairy industry, newborn calves are taken away from their mothers shortly after birth so that the milk meant for them can be bought and consumed by humans. Being separated causes grief and anguish to both mother and calf. Distraught mother cows often cry out for their lost babies for days. Male calves are either sent for slaughter or killed on the farm by being shot or smashed through the skull with a hammer.
And it's not just mother cows. PETA exposés of the wool industry in Australia – the world’s largest exporter of wool – show mother sheep watching and frantically calling out as workers cut chunks of flesh off their lambs' hindquarters with shears, in a crude procedure known as "mulesing", which is carried out in an attempt to address issues caused by breeding them to produce excessive amounts of wool.
In puppy mills, female dogs are treated like puppy-producing machines. Puppies are abruptly taken away from their mothers, and both mother and baby can suffer malnutrition, exposure, and a lack of adequate veterinary care. Mothers are kept in cramped cages and hutches and bred over and over again until they can no longer produce puppies.
Such abuse is rampant across industries that exploit animals and perpetuate speciesism – the view that the lives and experiences of other animals don't matter simply because they’re not human.
Please, spare a thought for these animals as you're celebrating Mother’s Day. Our consumer choices have the power to make it happy or full of misery for other mothers.
Mimi Bekhechi
Campaigns Consultant,
PETA Australia
PO Box 20308 World Square
Sydney, NSW, 2002
(+618) 8556-5828
mimib@peta.org.au
On Mother’s Day, thousands of mothers will be separated from their babies.
In the dairy industry, newborn calves are taken away from their mothers shortly after birth so that the milk meant for them can be bought and consumed by humans. Being separated causes grief and anguish to both mother and calf. Distraught mother cows often cry out for their lost babies for days. Male calves are either sent for slaughter or killed on the farm by being shot or smashed through the skull with a hammer.
And it's not just mother cows. PETA exposés of the wool industry in Australia – the world’s largest exporter of wool – show mother sheep watching and frantically calling out as workers cut chunks of flesh off their lambs' hindquarters with shears, in a crude procedure known as "mulesing", which is carried out in an attempt to address issues caused by breeding them to produce excessive amounts of wool.
In puppy mills, female dogs are treated like puppy-producing machines. Puppies are abruptly taken away from their mothers, and both mother and baby can suffer malnutrition, exposure, and a lack of adequate veterinary care. Mothers are kept in cramped cages and hutches and bred over and over again until they can no longer produce puppies.
Such abuse is rampant across industries that exploit animals and perpetuate speciesism – the view that the lives and experiences of other animals don't matter simply because they’re not human.
Please, spare a thought for these animals as you're celebrating Mother’s Day. Our consumer choices have the power to make it happy or full of misery for other mothers.
Mimi Bekhechi
Campaigns Consultant,
PETA Australia
PO Box 20308 World Square
Sydney, NSW, 2002
(+618) 8556-5828
mimib@peta.org.au