Mother's Day is for Animals, Too
Celebrate Moms of All Species on Special Holiday
Written for In Defense of Animals
On Mother's Day, hundreds of millions of sons and daughters the world over will thank their moms for all the love and support they've provided over the years. It remains one of the most popular holidays in many countries; more telephone calls are made on the second Sunday of May than on any other day of the year, and greeting card companies, florists, and other gift-related retailers will do brisk business this Sunday, May 14th.
Throughout the ages, the holiday has been through many transformations, evolving over the course of several millennia to express the values of many different cultures and societies in different times and places. The ancient Greeks and Romans held festivals every spring in homage of the great mother deities. Later, the early Christians held celebrations honoring Mary, the mother of Christ, on the fourth Sunday during Lent. However, it wasn't until the 17th century that the English created Mothering Sunday to venerate all mothers. Anna Jarvis, an activist who never married or had children, is considered the "Mother of Mother's Day" in America. Her efforts ultimately led President Woodrow Wilson to proclaim Mother's Day a national holiday in 1914.
To remain truly meaningful in today's world, Mother's Day must continue to change with the times. Therefore, modern society must learn to respect all mothers who lovingly nurture and teach their children, including non-human animals. That's why, in the loving spirit of this special holiday, IDA encourages everyone to remember that animals are mothers too, and to give them the respect they are due.
Exploiting Motherhood
It is shameful that our society continues to heartlessly exploit the reproductive abilities and maternal instincts of female animals, deliberately depriving them of the chance to care for and raise their young in the ways that nature intended. Keeping hens in battery cages for their eggs, confining pregnant mares in stalls to collect their urine for estrogen replacement drugs, and other methods of mass-producing animal products for human consumption turn motherhood into an industrial process. Such cruelty distorts our relationship with the natural world by causing other sentient creatures extreme physical pain, heartache and loneliness.
One of the saddest examples of motherhood abuse takes place on dairy farms, where veal calves are born. On factory farms, where most of America's milk comes from, female cows are kept almost constantly pregnant so that they will lactate and provide milk for human consumption year-round. This is not their natural behavior and subjects their bodies to constant stress, leaving them at great risk for numerous health problems, from lameness to infected udders. Newborn calves are forcibly separated from their mothers within 48 hours to prevent them from drinking the milk that will instead be sold in supermarkets. Females are raised to replace their mothers, who live only a few years of their natural lifespan before their milk production starts to dry up and they are slaughtered for hamburger. Meanwhile, about 4 million male calves are born to dairy cows ever year. The dairy industry has no use for these surplus animals, so 750,000 of them are raised for veal.
Veal is one of the cruelest forms of animal abuse ever devised, particularly because the victim is a newborn who, upon entering the world, is almost immediately torn from his mother, never to see her again. He is imprisoned in solitary confinement inside a wooden crate that is only about as long as his own body and about two feet wide with a floor made of slats for his waste to fall through. Unfortunately, much of it sticks to the slats, so the poor animal typically winds up lying in his own feces.
At first, the calf is small enough to turn around in the stall, so he is chained by the neck inside the crate to prevent him from moving his body and developing his muscles. The farmer also feeds the calf an exclusively liquid iron-deficient diet to deliberately make him anemic. Total immobility and insufficient nutrition are necessary to produce the soft, light pink, tender flesh prized by gourmets. Perhaps if veal connoisseurs knew that calves raised for veal suffer chronic digestive disorders, diarrhea and swollen joints throughout their four months of miserable life before being slaughtered for their flesh, they might lose their appetites for this delicacy of despair.
Cows are famously loving and protective mothers. Anyone who has ever lived on a dairy farm and heard the heartrending cries of a mother cow whose child has been taken away knows that she is feeling deep sorrow. Her mourning can continue for weeks until, her spirit broken, she finally gives up hope of ever finding her lost infant. Missing her baby must be horrible enough, so it is probably best that she cannot see him inside the dark crate, terrified and alone, his horrible fate sealed by callously self-centered humans.
No mother or child should have to endure such misery, and anyone who has ever been a mother or had one can understand why. So the next time someone asks you what's wrong with buying dairy products, let them know that each glass of milk or slice of cheese supports a cruel industry that abuses helpless male calves who die young for veal. This Mother's Day, please speak up for animal moms and their children while celebrating with your family.
Written for In Defense of Animals
On Mother's Day, hundreds of millions of sons and daughters the world over will thank their moms for all the love and support they've provided over the years. It remains one of the most popular holidays in many countries; more telephone calls are made on the second Sunday of May than on any other day of the year, and greeting card companies, florists, and other gift-related retailers will do brisk business this Sunday, May 14th.
Throughout the ages, the holiday has been through many transformations, evolving over the course of several millennia to express the values of many different cultures and societies in different times and places. The ancient Greeks and Romans held festivals every spring in homage of the great mother deities. Later, the early Christians held celebrations honoring Mary, the mother of Christ, on the fourth Sunday during Lent. However, it wasn't until the 17th century that the English created Mothering Sunday to venerate all mothers. Anna Jarvis, an activist who never married or had children, is considered the "Mother of Mother's Day" in America. Her efforts ultimately led President Woodrow Wilson to proclaim Mother's Day a national holiday in 1914.
To remain truly meaningful in today's world, Mother's Day must continue to change with the times. Therefore, modern society must learn to respect all mothers who lovingly nurture and teach their children, including non-human animals. That's why, in the loving spirit of this special holiday, IDA encourages everyone to remember that animals are mothers too, and to give them the respect they are due.
Exploiting Motherhood
It is shameful that our society continues to heartlessly exploit the reproductive abilities and maternal instincts of female animals, deliberately depriving them of the chance to care for and raise their young in the ways that nature intended. Keeping hens in battery cages for their eggs, confining pregnant mares in stalls to collect their urine for estrogen replacement drugs, and other methods of mass-producing animal products for human consumption turn motherhood into an industrial process. Such cruelty distorts our relationship with the natural world by causing other sentient creatures extreme physical pain, heartache and loneliness.
One of the saddest examples of motherhood abuse takes place on dairy farms, where veal calves are born. On factory farms, where most of America's milk comes from, female cows are kept almost constantly pregnant so that they will lactate and provide milk for human consumption year-round. This is not their natural behavior and subjects their bodies to constant stress, leaving them at great risk for numerous health problems, from lameness to infected udders. Newborn calves are forcibly separated from their mothers within 48 hours to prevent them from drinking the milk that will instead be sold in supermarkets. Females are raised to replace their mothers, who live only a few years of their natural lifespan before their milk production starts to dry up and they are slaughtered for hamburger. Meanwhile, about 4 million male calves are born to dairy cows ever year. The dairy industry has no use for these surplus animals, so 750,000 of them are raised for veal.
Veal is one of the cruelest forms of animal abuse ever devised, particularly because the victim is a newborn who, upon entering the world, is almost immediately torn from his mother, never to see her again. He is imprisoned in solitary confinement inside a wooden crate that is only about as long as his own body and about two feet wide with a floor made of slats for his waste to fall through. Unfortunately, much of it sticks to the slats, so the poor animal typically winds up lying in his own feces.
At first, the calf is small enough to turn around in the stall, so he is chained by the neck inside the crate to prevent him from moving his body and developing his muscles. The farmer also feeds the calf an exclusively liquid iron-deficient diet to deliberately make him anemic. Total immobility and insufficient nutrition are necessary to produce the soft, light pink, tender flesh prized by gourmets. Perhaps if veal connoisseurs knew that calves raised for veal suffer chronic digestive disorders, diarrhea and swollen joints throughout their four months of miserable life before being slaughtered for their flesh, they might lose their appetites for this delicacy of despair.
Cows are famously loving and protective mothers. Anyone who has ever lived on a dairy farm and heard the heartrending cries of a mother cow whose child has been taken away knows that she is feeling deep sorrow. Her mourning can continue for weeks until, her spirit broken, she finally gives up hope of ever finding her lost infant. Missing her baby must be horrible enough, so it is probably best that she cannot see him inside the dark crate, terrified and alone, his horrible fate sealed by callously self-centered humans.
No mother or child should have to endure such misery, and anyone who has ever been a mother or had one can understand why. So the next time someone asks you what's wrong with buying dairy products, let them know that each glass of milk or slice of cheese supports a cruel industry that abuses helpless male calves who die young for veal. This Mother's Day, please speak up for animal moms and their children while celebrating with your family.