The Tuesday, September 29, New York Times has a front page article, by William Neuman, titled, "From Science, Plenty of Cows but Little Profit." It tells us that a high-technology method to sort sperm has led to dairy farmers being able to produce mostly female calves, which unlike their brothers, who are sold cheaply for meat (usually veal) can "be raised into profitable milk producers."
We read:
"The dairy industry is in crisis, with prices so low that farmers are selling their milk below production cost. The industry is struggling to cut output. And yet the wave of excess cows is about to start dumping milk into a market that does not need it."
Perhaps of most interest to animal advocates is the following:
"Desperate to drive up prices by stemming the gusher of unwanted milk, a dairy industry group, the National Milk Producers Federation, has been paying farmers to send herds to slaughter. Since January the program has culled about 230,000 cows nationwide."
I know that many vegetarians think that people who choose to be vegan are radical, and that they necessarily believe that there is no appropriate relationship between humans and other animals except for us to leave the animals alone. There are certainly animal rights activists who feel that way. But many vegans have more nuanced views, yet would never dream of supporting the dairy industry as that means supporting the veal industry and also supporting the slaughter of cows either after, or as in the cases noted above, sometimes even before they have been impregnated -- impregnated so that they will produce milk for their calves, which is sold to humans as those calves are taken from their mothers. This article gives us a hint as to the horror of the dairy industry, and opens the door for letters to the editor discussing the treatment of animals raised for food, and letters, from those who are vegan, expounding on the pleasures of a plant-based diet.
So please, check out the article on line at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/business/29dairy.html and send a letter to the editor at letters@nytimes.com
Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Remember that shorter letters are more likely to be published. And please be sure not to use any comments or phrases from me or from any other alerts in your letters. Editors are looking for original responses from their readers.
My thanks go to Sean McVity for making sure we all saw the article.
Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)
Please go to www.ThankingtheMonkey.com for a fun celeb-studded promo video and information on Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of 2008." And check out Karen's new blog at www.ThankingtheMonkey.com/blog !
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Date: Tue Sep 29 19:53:37 2009
