Giant ‘Babies’ Urge Passers-By to Grow Up and Go Dairy-Free as Part of PETA India’s World Breastfeeding Week Campaign

To mark World Breastfeeding Week (1 to 7 August), PETA India and Aashray Foundation supporters wearing 2.5–metre-tall inflatable infant costumes gathered in Bengaluru to hand out packets of ice-cold Mlk (milk made from nuts or other plants) from Nourish You while holding signs reading, “Milk Is for Babies! Dump Dairy.” The event aimed to remind the public that the mothers of all mammal species – cows and humans included – produce milk for their own babies and that nobody requires any milk after the age of weaning. 

In the dairy sector, cows and buffaloes are forcibly inseminated (that is, raped, as workers insert an arm into the cow’s rectum and a metal rod carrying bull semen into her vagina) and their newborn calves are stolen from them shortly after birth. Males are typically cast out on the roads, starved, or sold to be killed for their flesh and skin, while females are sentenced to the same fate as their mothers: they’re used as milk machines until their bodies give out, at which point, many are abandoned or slaughtered.  

According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the world’s largest organisation of food and nutrition professionals, vegans are at reduced risk of certain health conditions, including ischemic heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, certain types of cancer, and obesity. And University of Oxford researchers state that going meat- and dairy-free can reduce an individual’s carbon footprint from food by up to 73%.  

For those who enjoy the creamy taste, milk made from a variety of nuts, oats, seeds, millet, soya, rice, or other plants is a nutritious and tasty option.