HOW TO KILL A BABY COW The easiest way to kill a baby male calf is to separate him from his mother, then drag the thrashing infant to a ditch and shoot him in the brain with your gun. How widespread is this practice? You'll be sadly surprised. No, you'll be shocked. On Wednesday October 20, 1999, I wrote the following: ________________________________________________________ BABY COW TORTURE CHAMBER - Once upon a time in America, or, shooting the bull with America's dairymen. The Humane Slaughter Act was passed so that farm animals would be "humanely killed" by compassionate killers with sharp knives, rather then by sadistic fiends taking pleasure in causing pain to defenseless creatures. Oh well, little seems to have changed regarding man's inhumanity to lower life forms. On Thursday, October 14, 1999, on page 6B, the Florida Sun Sentinel reported the horrible results of an undercover investigation. I predict that the tape will not be shown on "60 Minutes." What was captured on film revealed a dairy farm employee dragging, kicking, and shooting 13 newborn calves. The farm was identified as McArthur Farms in Okeechobee County. Why are calves born? To keep their moms producing milk. If calves are unlucky enough to be born male, feed costs no longer justify raising these darling creatures for veal. The state of Florida has decided not to pursue animal cruelty charges against McArthur Farms or its employees. The state reasons that killing unwanted or sick calves is not unusual at dairy farms. Undercover investigators videotaped a McArthur farm employee on Jan. 23 taking day-old calves from a truck, tossing them into a muddy pit and shooting them with a small-caliber pistol. Many were left to thrash and suffer for up to 10 minutes. The state attorney general reasoned: "It is legally acceptable to kill the unwanted calves or sick animals. The question is did they do it in a humane method? By looking at this tape, we determined that it wasn't." ________________________________________________________ During eight years of researching and writing about milk and dairy issues, today's column has been the most painful for me to write. If you, like most consumers, vegetarians, and animal rights activists, assume that baby male calves are sold for veal, then you are sadly mistaken. There are approximately 9.15 million cows being milked in America. On average, a milking cow gives birth once every sixteen months. That's the industry turn-around, with all things (disease, production, etc.) being factored. So, 6.8 million calves are birthed during each 12 month period. Half of those calves are born female, and are raised to become milking cows like their mothers. Some 3.4 million calves are male. Are these infant male bovines fated to live their short lives in confinement crates, raised anemic so that their flesh contains little fat, while these animals live tortured lives? Well, sure. That's the way it's done to satisfy restaurant patron's craving for baby flesh, or veal. How many of the 3.4 million bulls are sold as veal? Less than one out of five, or about 650,000. In 1986, 1.2 million of these male cows were sold as veal, but as people become more aware of the terrible injustices of raising innocent victims for veal consumption, there has been a politically correct rejection of veal. Unfortunately, baby male calves continue to be birthed. What happens to unwanted baby male calves? What happens to the other four out of five infant males who are not raised and sold for veal? This truth is going to get ugly for those who have the ability to feel. The major cost of raising baby males for veal is the price of feed. A typical baby male calf weighing 100 pounds is sold at the age of one-week. These animals are fed for four months, during which they each gain about 2.5 pounds per day. They are then sold at cattle auctions. If the price of veal is $1.70 per pound, a farmer will lose about $100 during the process. Here are this week’s wholesale prices for veal. www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/NW_LS452.TXT The USDA report reflects that a 245 pound Slaughtered carcass, hide and head removed, yields approximately $210, or about 86 cents per pound. Dairy farmers no longer approach the break even point. Dairy farmers cannot afford to feed male calves. Bulls do not make great pets. Raising veal is a big money loser. Most farmers know this. What do you imagine happens to 2,650,000 baby male calves? Can you wildest dream approach the true nightmare? Hint: They are not shipped to Pamplona to run through the streets and then appear in bull fights. Hint: They do not appear on Wall Street, or in Merril Lynch commercials. Hint: They are not put out to stud, because most cows are artificially inseminated. If you have yet to come to terms with the scientific facts that support a NotMilk regimen, perhaps you can examine issues of compassion, as they apply to your ability to face facts. When eating your next slice of pizza, or licking your next ice cream cone, take responsibility for creating that demand which results in more animals dying in the above-described manner. Ninety percent of the cows milked in America are of the black and white variety. Most are Holsteins. Some are mixed breeds, brown Swiss mixed with Holsteins. Drive through cattle country and see the black angus grazing through America's heartland. Visit the feed lots and you see few (if any) Holstein males. This dirty secret is an unwritten rule of an industry that paints tranquil scenes on milk cartons. Do not let the public know. There are thousands of "players" keeping this horror to themselves. A 21st century holocaust of torture and death, pain and emotional distress, occurring away from your sight. Even when video documentation occurs, as it did two years ago, no television station would violate that unwritten rule which would hurt their bottom lines. Your bottom line is to always take responsibility for your actions. You may not pull the trigger of that gun. You may not witness the suffering or pain. You do not watch the animal cry, then die. Consume dairy products, and you become the executioner. The antidote to murdering baby male cows: ___________________________________________ SANCTUARY FOR BABY MALE CALVES Dairy farmers have had no choice but to do the unpleasant things that they do. That is, until now. I challenge dairymen and dairywomen of conscience to do the right thing by considering today's alternative. There are sanctuaries for unwanted animals, and some of my heros invest their lives and energies to rescuing farm animals. Gene and Lorri of Farm Sanctuary. Eddie and Louie of Oasis. Caycee and Jason of Oohmahnee. I have been told by an intermediary (a powerful member of the dairy industry) that some dairy farmers are ready to send their unwanted animals to our shelters. I have spoken to representatives of three shelters who can accept baby cows who would otherwise be shot in the head and buried in a ditch. What we need are funds. If you cannot spend the time to feed these gentle creatures, or shovel their manure, or build fences and spread hay, perhaps you can dig deep into your pockets and sponsor a little guy. One male calf grows into a bull. Jason and Caycee dispel the myth that these male bovines are violent, angry animals, describing bulls this way: "They're like big puppies." Their sanctuary is southeast of Pittsburgh: http://www.oohmahneefarm.org Gene and Lorri Baustons run Farm Sanctuary, near Watkins Glen, New York. They have plenty of room for rescued baby bulls, and their hearts are open to these creatures. What they also need is funding: http://www.farmsanctuary.org Eddie Lama, subject of a wonderful documentary called The Witness, owns and operates the Oasis sanctuary in New York State. Eddie and friends could use your funds to help the animals. http://www.oasissanctuary.org I am the director of a tax free 501(c)3 organization called AnimalSave. I am beginning a new campaign called: "Don't Shoot the Bull" I will coordinate the placement of these unwanted baby male calves at the three farm sanctuaries. I will do so for no fee, and see to it that 100% of your donations go directly to care for the animals. Should you wish to make a donation to AnimalSave, please EMAIL me at i4crob@earthlink.net or call 201-871-5871. It cost $75 per month to care for one of these bovines. That's $900 per year. That's the price I ask you to send, and the return on your investment will be a heck of a lot of love. Who says that money cannot buy happiness? Dairy farmers have agreed to send their unwanted Holsteins, fated to die, to a permanent sanctuary. What a blessing! America's dairymen and women represent the hardest working people in America. Their values, love for family, their country and their God are values that I too hold dear. These men and women work around the clock tending to their business and chores, sometimes staying up in the middle of the night with a sick animal. Their jobs and lives are intermeshed because cows must eat seven days each week and must be milked three times each day. Vacations are rare and money is often extremely tight. Their profit margins are measured in pennies per hundred pounds of product produced. These hard working Americans have always felt good about themselves and the "wholesome milk" that they deliver to America. That wonderful balance in their lives is now threatened by the Dairy Education Board. I take no pleasure is causing pain to these good people. However, I have to consider the pain that their product causes to an entire society. To me, these dairy producers are death merchants and their product is no better than heroin or cocaine grown by equally hard working farmers and drug dealers in South America. Their way of doing business ends with painful death to all of their animals. Sometimes, the choices are difficult. This choice for them will be easy. Save a life today. Dairymen can now do one very generous act by sending their calves to one of these three sanctuaries: http://www.oasissanctuary.org http://www.farmsanctuary.org http://www.oohmahneefarm.org Strange bedfellows, we and the dairy farmers? Perhaps, but together we can extend enormous compassion to animals in need of our love. ___________________________________________ *Live Free or Die* New Hampshire's state motto is appropriate the rest of this column. The state of New Hampshire has a total area of 9,351 square miles, 83% of which is forest. One woman friend of mine owns more than one and one-third of those square miles. Her name is Jennifer Wiley. Jennifer resides on 860 mostly wooded acres in Madison, New Hampshire with her 93-year-old mother, Katherine, and her 28 year-old-daughter, Joanna. Jennifer's Email: maeve32@hotmail.com Together, these three women live free, while their tiny herd of cows is destined to soon die by the hands of a butcher in a country slaughterhouse. Jennifer so loves those animals, but can no longer care for them. Three generations of humans live together with three generations of bovines. These are not milking cows. Most are Herefords, with a sprinkling of Holstein and Brown Swiss. Jennifer has enormous financial pressures, and must sell these cows to the highest bidder. That means the slaughterhouse, yet, she would consider sacrificing income by finding her companion animals a good place to live out their lives. Jennifer's cows once slept on concrete, in cramped stalls. They now live in a large white barn and sleep on hay. The four older bovines have names. Rhodora, Colleen (part Holstein), Hannah (Rhodora's cousin), and Kate (Rhodora's daughter). Kate has two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary. These two heifers play a constant game of tag, chasing each other in Jennifer Wiley's field. Mary is the self-proclaimed baby sitter for three calves, whose testicles have been painfully clamped so that they atrophy, then fall off. These baby male calves will be raised as steers. Jennifer cannot bear to sell these gentle creatures for their meat. They have names. Jennifer has tears. Jennifer contacted me as a result of my recent columns about animal sanctuaries. Those columns are now posted on NOTMILK.com (this file) Does Jennifer have an alternative? One of Jennifer's neighbors has offered to help transport these gentle animals to a sanctuary. We need gas money. We need money for Farm Sanctuary or Oasis or Ohmahnee, or other caregivers. Please become a part of the final solution. Rhodora, Colleen, Hannah, Kate, Mary, and the children will live, with your genorosity. These cows may soon be running free in a field, taken care of by people with love in their hearts. They might also soon be served with a special sauce on a sesame seed bun. Contact me if you can provide a donation to help care for their sanctuary. Meanwhile...back at my farm, I am faced with a dilemma. Farm Sanctuary will host their festive hoedown in nine days on August 4th. There will be over two hundred people there celebrating the rescued farm animals who live their lives in peace at Gene and Lorri's farm. THE GRAND DILEMMA Jennifer may give me the animals for a nominal fee. They are available for rescue. Her friend, Laura, has a trailer that can carry the animals from New Hampshire to Watkins Glen, New York. I can drive three male calves, two heifers, and a cow to Farm Sanctuary. Will these animals be welcomed with the same love that welcomed the others? Will they live free or die? The alternative is for these animals to be slaughtered. What will Gene Bauston do? Gene's recently posted his latest financial statement to the Internet. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the Baustons have raised over three million dollars this past year, and have hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank, working to draw interest. Perhaps that money can be put to use working to save the lives of Jennifer's grand dames. Three generations of lovely ladies. By welcoming these animals, Gene can create additional good will, raise additional funds, and allow these animals to live free and not die. Will somebody get Gene's blessing for this rescue? With his approval, I will show up on August fourth with six new additions to his beautiful family. Will our efforts make a difference? I've contacted a friend, a producer for a nationally televised show out of New York. This could be one very powerful feel-good story. We have the potential to create a million new vegetarians if this is done right. Please contact Gene and Lorri, and let them know that you appreciate their continuing love for the animals: gene@farmsanctuary.org ___________________________________________ DESTINED TO DIE "Fallaces sunt rerum species." (The appearance of things are deceptive.) Seneca (c4 B.C.-A.D.65) On the fourth day of August, 2002, they will party though the night at Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, New York. Human celebrants will become drunk with the spirit of freedom at the annual summer hoedown, while dancing til dawn. Rescued animals will sleep nearby in barns provided for their gift of freedom. On the same day that people dance to the music, 27 million creatures will die violently, to feed the sisters and brothers and fathers and mothers of those who pretend that all is right with their world. Yesterday, we were given the brief opportunity to save seven additional animals. Today, our friends have rejected the 'save our souls' plea. They have given the collective thumbs down to our rescue effort. Tomorrow, the animals that they have said no to shall die. Farm Sanctuary cannot provide sanctuary. Other farm shelters have neither the room nor the resources. We wrote privately to them, asking: "We have seven animals that we can transport to your farm/shelter. Three male calves, two heifers, two older cows. Can you provide sanctuary?" They have all turned their backs on the animals seeking freedom. We tried so hard to make a difference. We reached one farmer willing to do the right thing. She turned her back, for just one moment, on potential profits one reccives by treating living breathing sentient creatures as agricultural units. She was prepared to turn away from about $6,000, for that is what her living commodities will now generate, in real income. The basic formula required three components. Donor plus recipient equals sanctuary. There was a universal balance of wisdom to this equation. We provided the most difficult factor, a ready, willing, and able donor. With no recipient, there can never be sanctuary. One courageous woman was willing to sacrifice needed dollars for her family, and instead offered her love and the future of her animals to the wonderful people who oversee farm sanctuaries. The wonderful people who have now run out of room, and can no longer save additional lives. They can no longer rescue abused and unwanted farm creatures. There is no room on this planet for unwanted aniamls. There is only the final solution. Death. Gene and Lorri and Farm Sanctuary have told this woman that there is no space on their sanctuary for her cows. Their fields are alive with the sound of music. I hear the second movement of Beethoven's seventh symphony. A funeral march. A tribute to dead soldiers. Other sanctuaries have responded in similar fashion. Instead, she will be selling those creatures by traditional means this week. They will all end up in slaughtehouses. There is no longer an alternative. The baby bull calves and the mother cows will become ribs and veal and hamburger. The heifers will soon become milking cows, and future generations of their own offspring will be taken away to be castrated, or shot, or sold as veal, or to be milked and continue the animal abuse that represents America's farm industry. There is always a home for a cute pure bred dog. The mixed breeds will die. The sheltered pit bulls will be euthanized. The unloved strays will wag their tails and bark greetings of welcome to shelter visitors. Visit your local animal shelter today, and walk down the aisles as I recently did, saying hello and goodbye to living spirits seeking love. To animals who will forever be orphans, until death do they part from the cruelty of their existance. The rats from animal experiments, when no longer needed, are thrown together into a bucket and doused with ether, or injected with sodium pentabarbitol, en masse, to die huddled together, body to body, in their final resting place. The baby male chicks are given no painkillers before the life is crushed out of them in efficient killing machines. The furs that humans wear are skin peeled from once-feeling animals who have been anally electrocuted so that skin remains unscarred. The horses that lose race after race get no pills to calm them before being stunned more than once, for one blow rarely brings them to their knees, before being hoisted by chains so that a man's knife can end memories of racing around oval tracks to cheering humans. The chickens and turkeys, one by one, throats slit, hung upside down to squak their dying words in gurgling blood tones. The elephants prodded with sharp-hooked tools, made to stand awkwardly on small stools while children applaud with glee. The castrated dancing bears bring delight to naive circus patrons who have no awareness of their pain, before and after the performance. The rodeo calves and animals who run in terror as galloping cowboys lasso ropes around their necks and then bind their legs, giving confused animals the opportunity to ask why. There is no rescue. There is no sanctuary. There is only truth. There is only reality. We pass laws to make slavery more compassionate, and the slavery continues. We dance to celebrate passage of those laws, and in doing so, deceive the animals and deceive ourselves. We raise money to lobby Congress to pass laws making slaughter more compassionate, as if there can ever be justice by sanitizing murder. In yesterday's mail we received a letter from Farm Sanctuary. Lorri and Gen Bauston wrote: "Most people don't care about farm animals... "Farm animals have no laws to protect them, no voice to speak out, and will suffer silently without our help. "We're counting on you to help us turn the tide... "Farm Sanctuary has a chance to deliver justice for farm animals... "These battles are hard. They take an investment of time and resources, but they must be fought. "We - and farm animals across the country - need your support today. "Each dollar you contribute will fight for a farm animal's life. Farm animals have no other defense - and they need you now. "...your help will ensure that ALL animals are protected from cruelty..." _________________________________________________________________ POSTSCRIPT... _________________________________________________________________ From: Jason Tracy oohmahneefarm@oohmahneefarm.org Date: Sat, 27 Jul 2002 10:53:24 -0400 Hello Robert - Unfortunately OohmahNee is to capacity both physically and financially stressed at this time...we have continually answered the demand for farmed animal sanctuary when other sanctuaries (that have very impressive funding and acreage I might add) have repeatedly directed calls to our sanctuary .......OohmahNee saved the lives of thirty veal calves on the way to slaughter in July of 2000 and contacted every accredited sanctuary in the hopes of placing the rescued calves in good homes...only one sanctuary helped out and adopted two. We are now faced with feeding a herd of thirty five cows and on a shoestring budget...we are desperately trying to raise funds to build a barn big enough for the cows we do have since our original cow barn is too small...We need enough money for a big barn to be built ($30,000), money for more grazing land ($60,000), and enough members and supporters to cover the annual cost of feeding and veterinary care of the cows ($60 dollars a day is the price for the two round bales of timothy hay which they entirely consume in a 24 hr period). OohMahNee would gladly help if we had the resources but we remain hopeful that the national groups that have sanctuaries and several million dollar annual budgets will utilize their well deserved resouces to keep their promises they made to their donors and most importantly the enslaved animals. I assure you that if and when OohMahNee reaches that status of financial security ONLY THE ANIMALS will benefit. Perhaps there should be a fund established by the multi million dollar sanctuaries to ensure that smaller grassroots sanctuaries can evolve and that the funding is not monopolized by any one entity since the animals need sanctuaries in every state. - Have you tried Farm Sanctuary??? ___________________________________________ During the recent Animal Rights 2002 convention in Washington, D.C., I was given the opportunity to address 700-800 activists. I approached the podium with mixed feelings. I was emotional, and many themes ran through my head, but there was a film crew finishing up the fourth day of their NotMilk documentary, so I tempered my temper. I had no idea exactly what I would say, or how I would communicate my sentiments. ____________________________________________________ NOTE: A talk is delivered in a different style than a written essay. There are errors that I would have liked to edit, but here follows a verbatim transcript. ____________________________________________________ My talk: Tonight, we're talking about turning compassion into action, and I want to change the terminology a bit. I want to warn us all about turning passion into inaction, because I've seen too much of it. Two years ago, before the election cycle, I was lucky enough - it's a real big ego boost, to have three hundred dairy farmers give the NotMilkman a standing ovation, and that's what happened when I lectured in Washington with Ralph Nader about genetic engineering and biotechnology - taking an anti-stance to farmers who are also against genetic engineering. Imagine...if I go to one of their conferences, you are never going to have me applaud a cheesehead, it just isn't ever going to happen. I will sit in the audience and maybe be the only one sitting there not applauding whatever they have to say. I am anti-milk one hundred percent, and the abuse that occurs to these animals. Last night, I had a very interesting perspective because I sat right next to Lorraine who is from the other side, and next to a man, Dan Murphy, who is the editor of a pro-meat magazine. I love to play poker. I'm a good poker player because I watch people's faces, and over the course of an evening's play, I watch tells, I watch faces, I watch eyes, I watch fingers, I watch tapping on the table, and blinking, and I know what they're holding by the end of the evening. I watched the man very carefully. When he applauded, they applauded. He was the leader of the group. When he smiled, they smiled, and there's two things that really disturb me. One is...were you here to hear Ingrid Newkirk's speech? It was magnificent (APPLAUSE). It was the single best speech that I have ever heard in my life. As a matter of fact, it is the only time that I've gone and bought somebody's tape (LAUGHTER) this morning. It's worth sharing with somebody--a great speech. But what disturbed me was this man gave her a standing ovation. He stood and applauded...with enthusiasm. And earlier in the evening, we got some questions to ask, and this has to be a defining moment in our movement. His answer. One word answer. Do you know what he said to the question? He said "yes," and the question was "Are you guys producing more meat for consumption?" Isn't that disturbing? The answer is yes. Does that mean that something that we're doing is not working? I left last year's AR-2001 with a great amount of emotion, with mixed feelings because, on one hand, everybody stood and applauded after Wendy's when one man was arrested. This man made a movie about pigs and it was wonderful. It was a wonderful feeling, and shortly thereafter Wendy's changed their policy thanks to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and others and our actions. Wendy's announced that they were going to support more compassionate raising of chickens. For God sakes, these poor birds are allotted eight by eight inches of floor area, and PETA got a great victory. They gave them 8 and a half by 8 and a half. Now come on, that's not a victory to me. Is that a victory to you? (APPLAUSE) As Ingrid spoke last night, and I sat in the front row, and I was watching these people...I imagined...I love Ingrid, I really love Ingrid. Her book, Free The Animals was an enormous inspiration. That's why I'm here tonight. That's why I rescued my dog. That's why I am writing about animal rights issues, and it's why I do from five o'clock in the morning until midnight or later, seven days a week. That's why I do what I do, researching the lies that come from the other side. But, boy, oh boy, I just for a second- just imagined after Ingrid spoke, and we were applauding, I imagined a pig following, and coming up, and putting his forelegs up here and saying..."But I'm still going to die." Compassionate slaughter? I reject compassionate slaughter. I hate compassionate slaughter. I had an Internet chat with a woman of Islamic faith who said to me, "Allah is perfect. We have Halal slaughter, and we measure their pain, and there is no pain. These animals feel no pain. They die. Allah is perfect. He wouldn't allow the pain. These animals die." If you think that they don't have pain - if you think that we're going to lobby Congress and get them to pass laws, what are the laws accomplishing? They're telling Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Jones that it's okay to eat meat. I reject Ingrid's statement that we have to go from A to R and then from R to Z. (APPLAUSE) We're telling them that eating meat is cool, and you know what else? Our own movement - I'm looking at vegetarian web sites and vegetarian newsletters and vegetarian magazines and newspapers and I'm reading articles that say we have to get the calcium, that meat eaters have better bone density than vegetarians. When I look at the studies, I know what phonies they are. My life's work. I used to do research. I ran a lab. I've held death in my hands. I know how to read scientific studies. I taught statistics. I know how to work with the numbers. I get the original studies. I look at their faces. I talk to scientists. I know how flawed these studies are. In 1997, the Journal of the American Medical Association hosted a nutritional conference, a conference that was sponsored by, guess who? The dairy industry. And in 1998, Peter Holt's September 23rd - go to the library and look this study up - September 23 in JAMA. Peter Holt did a study about colon cancer, and said that people who eat low fat cheese don't get colon cancer, and what did he do? He measured over a five year period - he gave free low fat cheese to people over a five year period and there was a tiny - not even a statistical difference that was significant. A millimeter of growth more for the people who didn't eat the cheese. A millimeter of cellular proliferation, and the dairy industry has been using that, since the study was published in 1998 to say that drinking milk prevents colon cancer. I went to one of the junior authors of that study and said "What happened between 1995 when the study ended and 1998," and I learned that the people who actually ate the cheese got the colon cancer. That issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association contains one of the great commentaries. That's really comedy, and not science, because the cellular proliferation AND GROWTH - an additional doctor wrote an editorial called "Proliferation Happens," like shit happens, criticizing that study. You can get the article. They knew it was a fraudulent study, and nobody else in America reported it. When I saw the study - you know how I learned about it? Reading the press releases put out by the dairy industry learning that they had a press conference set for the Plaza Hotel in New York, and that week every newspaper in America reported: "Drinking milk prevents colon cancer." TVs and radios and magazines repeated...and I went on the New York stations and said "The study was a fraud." I got in the way of them to show that it was exactly the opposite. And study after study, that's what these people do. Recently, I wrote about a study in Denmark, Annette Hjartaker, breast cancer - saying that drinking milk as a child prevents breast cancer. This study was so significantly flawed, and people within our own movement have been attacking me for it, I don't know where this is coming from, and there's something wrong. We're getting the message that you've got to have Vitamin B-12. That being a vegan does not work. You're not healthy if you don't get Vitamin B-12 which comes from rendered animal intestines from the bacteria that grow within. You're flawed if you don't take calcium pills. We're not getting enough calcium, we're not getting enough protein. Something's wrong. They're giving us a message that being vegetarian or vegan is not healthy. Our own people. You see somebody giving you that advice, that being a vegan does not stand on its own, go into your organic garden and pick a carrot and you're going to get all the Vitamin B-12 you need. Doctors take your vitamin B-12 measurements from your bloodstream when it's stored in the liver, not in the bloodstream. And they say you have very low levels of Vitamin B-12 compared to meat eaters. You shouldn't have any, according to their theory. You've got to take these pills? That's not the way it works. When we get organizations that tell us that we are going to get these animals slaughtered compassionately, I scratch my head and I wonder, and I ask everybody the same damned question: "Is there too much violence on television? Tell me, is there? (THE AUDIENCE SCREAMS A COLLECTIVE "YES.") Geez, you're all wrong. No! There's not enough violence on television, because when we see somebody die, bang, you're dead, they fall over, that's it, in real life, ouch, it hurts. Ouch, it hurts for a long time. It takes ten minutes to die, and during that period, twenty square feet are filled with blood. I want people to see that. I want people to see un-compassionate slaughter. I want them to see what it's really like. That's our responsibility. Our responsibility is to take this message. More people are eating meat, and what we're doing isn't working. So, take that compassion and turn it into passion and let the world know that we don't believe in compassionate slaughter. We don't believe in any slaughter. These animals are dying, partially, because of some of our misdirected efforts. We've got to make the effort to say that no animal deserves to die. Buy two books today. One is Eternal Treblinka, which will have you crying, and the other is Ingrid's Free the Animals, and get Ingrid to get back to the original message. Thank you. _____________________________________________________ Philosophers sometimes lack a touch of the practical. Animal Rights philosophers rarely follow the evolution of the animal rights movement to its logical conclusion. We cannot provide sanctuary for every farm animal. Despite the wonderful feel-good work of the good people at Farm Sanctuary, these rescued animals should not have been born to this earth. The logical conclusion of our so-called animal rights movement is that these sentient creatures should never to be born to suffer. Either we let them die a natural death, which is not practical, or we hold them in our arms, giving comfort, as we euthanize them. The creatures living out their lives at farm sanctuaries are mere ambassadors representing ten billion other animals who will die this year to feed Americans. Twenty-seven million animals each day having their throats cut. During the time that it will take you to read this paragraph, over fifteen thousand animals will die. Read the preceding sentence aloud. Fifteen hundred chickens have had their throats slashed, and lay flapping atop each other, choking on their own blood. Should not every American have the opportunity to view that same horrible carnage that we know all to well, over and over again? Does it really matter that each chicken spends her life in a larger confinement cage? Save these animals? For what, one might ask? Farm turkeys and pigs can no longer copulate. Males are too large to mount females. Farm "units" have been bred for high protein yield and low bone density. They live lives of pain because their skeletons cannot adequately support their own weight. The compassionate among us would recognize that ending their pain is the ultimate conclusion for all who truly care about suffering. These artificial creatures should never have been engineered nor born. Today, the animal rights movement is misdirected. We delude ourselves by promoting compassionate slaughter. We make it easy for these animals to live their lives to their own painful and tortured conclusions. We make it easy for meat consumers to veil their collective consciousness. Have you taken note of the fact that meat eating is increasing? Our misguided efforts are partially responsible. Once upon a time, a chicken spent her life in an area that was eight inches long by eight inches wide. We have increased her border by one-half inch, and dance our absurd victory, patting ourselves on the back, applauding organizations taking false credit for making meaningless differences. What good has resulted from such efforts? We in the movement have made the journey of transition more challenging for meat eaters. We have arrived where we now are, vegans all, by recognizing the horror of slaughter. Groups like the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, Humane Society, and Farm Sanctuary lobby Congress to change laws making it easier for animals to die. Their laws make it easier for farmed freaks to live longer lives of pain, with the same ultimate conclusion. Their laws relieve the consciences of carnivores. We on this side of the fence should make it our priority to show the meat-eating public exactly what slaughterhouses produce. The blood. The eyes showing fear, and then pain. Our strategy to relieve suffering relieves a universal conscience. The same strategy that brought us to understand death through violence should be intensified, not lessened. If all animals must die, then all animal eaters must take responsibility for their own participation in the slaughter. Our current strategy is to deny them their path to truth. In doing so, we provide a rationale for increased meat consumption. If the animals do not suffer, meat eaters reason, then there is no reason not to eat them. Here is what we can do. When King James of England assembled the greatest scholars of his time to re-write the Bible, his effort resulted in a masterful rendition of two important testaments. When Thomas Jefferson defined the reasons for the American Revolution in his 1773 essay regarding his summary view of the rights of British America, our founding fathers determined that the time had come to declare our unity by creating a new generation of change. The American Declaration of Independence resulted, and led to a Constriction of laws which made America great. Jefferson had written: "Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate and systematical plan of reducing us to slavery." So too, do farm animals, laboratory animals, circus and rodeo animals live in a time of deliberate tyranny which reduces them, and all who abuse them, to slavery. So too, should those in the animal rights movement come together, and meet in one large assembly hall. We should allow each voice the opportunity, as eloquently as can be stated, to declare his or her own philosophy in regards to animal abuse and animal rights. The words should be duly noted, and recorded, and three documents should be drafted, and subsequently signed by those men and women of courage who must work together in one spirit and in one voice. We need to draft a universally accepted declaration of animal rights. We need to draft a new constitution which all animal rights groups agree to uphold. Finally, we need to draft a set of protocols, including standard operating procedures, which govern the procedures by which animal rights organizations conduct their actions, passions, and behaviors. It would be my suggestion to conduct this assembly during a one-week series of meetings. There would be a formal agenda in which all men and women of conscience be given the opportunity to make one or more short presentations (five minute duration or less) to the assembly. Let us all be inspired by the words of Bryce Courtenay, from The Power of One: "Changes can come from the power of many, but only when the many come together to form that which is invincible...the power of one." _______________________________________ IF THE ANIMAL RIGHTS MOVEMENT WORKS, WHY DO I EAT SCHMOOS? I am a vegan, and only eat one animal, the schmoo. I eat schmoos with relish! Yummm, delicious. Schmoo fans know that these creatures lay eggs, give milk, and immediately die of pleasure when a human looks at them while wondering how good they will taste. If you saute filet of schmoo in olive oil, it tastes just like chicken. Broil a schmoo steak and it has the same texture and taste as filet mignon. Schmoos live to give happiness to humans, and I feel no guilt in admitting that I eat them, because that is their dying wish. Schmoos were actually invented by cartoonist Al Capp, innovative satirist and father of L'il Abner, Ma and Pa Yokum, Daisy May, and Dogpatch, USA. So, there is really no such thing as a schmoo, and I really don't eat them, but I sometimes wonder if animal rights activists would do so if that was actually the Schmoo's pleasure... which brings me to an enormous philosophical (and practical) question: Do the actions of animal rights activists have an effect on meat and poultry consumption? Absolutely, but the effect is inversely proportional to animal rights passions. The greater one protests, the more meat is consumed. Sound crazy? It is, and it's true. At the recent animal rights convention in Washington, D.C. (AR-2002), Karen Davis of United Poultry Concerns was elected into the Animal Rights Hall of Fame. She must be doing something right to garner such an honor, right? Wrong. If Karen and others like her were winning the "good fight," chicken consumption would not have increased 5% during the past twelve months. You heard me. Five percent! Consumer opinions reflect the sad fact that animal rights issues play little role in determining vegetarian lifestyles. An online poll of 10,007 adult Americans describing themselves as vegetarians (taken for TIME/CNN between April 5-9, 2002) revealed that concerns for animal rights played little role in what people eat. Among questions and responses: "What was your most important reason for becoming a vegetarian? 10% answered "Animal rights." "Do you consider the slaughter of animals to be murder?" 58% answered no. Actual food consumption values confirm the ineffective messages being marketed by animal rights activists. In 1991, the average American ate 62.9 pounds of beef. That number remained the same during 2001. This year, the average American will eat 63.7 pounds of beef. In 1991, the average American ate 62.0 pounds of chicken. By 2001, throughout a decade of protest and countless Disney rescue movies to the contrary, the average American ate 23% more chicken. In 2001, the per capita consumption of chicken soared to 76.5 pounds. >From 2001 to 2002, chicken consumption increased an additional five percent to 80.3 pounds per individual. 1991 beef & chicken consumption = 124.9 pounds 2001 beef & chicken consumption = 139.4 pounds 2002 beef & chicken consumption = 144.0 pounds (These statistics were obtained from David Harvey of the United States Department of Agriculture) During the past eleven years of animal rights activism, there has been a total increase for beef and chicken consumption equal to 15.3%. This past year, numerous laws have been passed to guarantee compassionate animal slaughter. Such laws relieve the consciences of those people who eat dead animals. As farm animals are treated better, rates of beef and poultry consumption increase. In just this past year, from 2001-2002, beef and chicken consumption have increased by an incredible combined 3.3%, demonstrating that the current misdirection of animal rights advocates is promoting increased meat consumption. The deception continues, and more animals become victims to the egos of animal rights leaders and organizations who spend millions of donated dollars to lobby members of Congress to pass ineffective laws. Karen Davis gladly accepted her award as Animal Rights Activist of the Year and made a stirring speech, while truth reveals that more chickens die as a result of her efforts to pass compassionate slaughter laws. People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) cite the success of their campaign to allow more room per chicken per cage as evidence that people's eating behaviors can be modified. PETA is correct. People now eat more chicken, content that chickens are being treated humanely. Animal sanctuaries harboring rescued chickens now deceitfully use funds that were originally intended to care for animals to lobby Congress to pass additional laws that will, in the end run, promote the increased consumption of chicken and beef. I eat schmoos. Others act like schmos. It's shamayzing! _______________________________________ Robert Cohen author of: MILK A-Z Executive Director (notmilkman@notmilk.com) Dairy Education Board http://www.notmilk.com This file: http://www.notmilk.com/killacalf.txt Do you know of a friend or family member with one or more of these milk-related problems? Do them a huge favor and forward the URL or this entire file to them. Do you know of someone who should read these newsletters? If so, have them send an empty Email to notmilk-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and they will receive it (automatically)!