Mother’s Day is one of my favorite days of the year. I love spending the day with my two sons and cherishing the loving bond we share. It is however a day tinged with sadness for me knowing what happens to farmed animals and their babies not only on Mother’s Day, but every day of the year.
Farmed animal mothers rarely have the chance to experience the joys of motherhood. Usually their babies are taken from them shortly after birth to also be imprisoned within the factory farming system just like themselves, or to be killed as they are considered useless.
There’s no special days of celebration for the victims of the animal agriculture industry – only suffering every single day of the year.
Cows, who form lifelong bonds with their calves when given the opportunity, have their babies taken from them within a few days of giving birth. Why? So we can take the milk intended for their calf for our own consumption. Cows are repeatedly artificially inseminated just so we can use the milk meant for their precious babies. Female calves themselves end up as cogs in the dairy farming machine just like their mothers, while male calves are usually sold to be slaughtered for veal at a very young age . All so humans can enjoy a glass of milk, some cheese or some ice cream.
Pigs are also artificially inseminated and forced to give birth to multiple piglets over and over again. They’re kept in cramped crates where they don’t even have enough room to turn around. Sows are forced to feed their babies through the metal bars of their prison, denying them the chance to form the loving bonds that they’d naturally develop if given the chance. Their babies are mutilated and taken away from them at just three to four weeks of age to be slaughtered for meat or to end up living a miserable existence just like their mother. There is so much suffering that goes into a rasher of bacon or a pork chop.
The bond between hens and their young forms before the chicks even hatch. Hens chirp to their babies while inside their eggs and the chicks respond. Egg laying hens never get to experience any of the joys of motherhood. Instead, their eggs are taken from them for human consumption while they spend their lives trapped in cages with not even room for them to flap their wings let alone experience natural behaviors like dust and sun bathing and laying and nurturing their eggs in nests. For the chicks born at chicken hatcheries for the egg laying industry, the females end up living a life of torturous confinement just like their mothers, while male chicks are considered of no worth and ground up alive almost immediately. Can we really justify abusing these birds just to eat some eggs for breakfast?
The best part of motherhood is nurturing new life and the hope that new life brings. In the spirit of nurturing hope, we can all come together and dismantle the animal ag system, which is based on the antithesis of nurturing and hope. We can instead build a system based on the valuation of life.
Farmed animals need our support. Please join us this Mother’s Day to build a better tomorrow for all animals.
With gratitude and wishing you a wonderful Mother’s Day.
With gratitude,
Cheryl Leahy
Executive Director
P.S. You can help animals 365 days a year by joining our United for Change monthly giving program. Your continued support will help fuel corporate outreach to help reduce animal suffering and mainstream vegan options.
As a non-profit organization, Animal Outlook relies on donations from caring, generous people like you. Every dollar matters. Your support makes a world of difference to farmed animals.
