Remembering Female Animals on International Women’s Day
In honour of International Women’s Day, let’s support our sisters of other species – the ones who are denied their rights, abused and killed every day for food, clothing, “entertainment” and experiments – by shedding light on their plight and making positive changes to help end their misery.
The Dairy Industry Kidnaps and Rapes
In the dairy industry, cows used for their milk are repeatedly raped during artificial insemination. In this process, a worker jams an arm far into the cow’s rectum in order to locate and position the uterus and then forces an instrument into her vagina. Soon after mother cows give birth, their beloved calves are torn away from them – while they cry out in vain – so that their milk can be sold to humans. Female calves are doomed to the same fate as their mothers and grandmothers. Luckily, there are many non-dairy milks to satisfy all your creamy cravings without supporting this vicious cycle of cruelty to cows.
Pregnant Pigs Are Imprisoned
Mother pigs in the meat industry are also artificially inseminated, confined to what the industry itself calls a “rape rack”, a tiny stall in which female animals are placed so they can hardly move. A male is then given access to impregnate the females, who commonly vocalise and bellow their agony and try in vain to get away. In countries around the world, sows are imprisoned for the entire length of their pregnancies in “gestation crates” that are too small for them to turn around or lie down comfortably in. Many sows develop bedsores from lack of movement. After giving birth, mother pigs are moved to “farrowing crates”, enclosures with only a tiny additional concrete area for piglets to rest on while they nurse. Gestation and farrowing crates are so barbaric that they’ve been banned in several US states, the UK and Sweden. Go vegan so that your appetite doesn’t create a demand that leads to this cruelty.
The Dog-Breeding Industry Is Hell for Mothers
A PETA investigation of a government dog-breeding operation in Saidapet, Chennai, revealed deplorable conditions. Mother dogs in such facilities are typically forced to produce litter after litter of puppies while under constant confinement. They’re often denied adequate food, water or veterinary care. This breeding unit causes mother dogs to suffer and worsens India’s animal overpopulation crisis, because every time someone buys a dog, a pup on the streets or in a shelter misses out on a chance at a home. Please speak up for mother dogs by urging the government to close this cruel facility today.
Experimenters Exploit Mothers’ Love
In laboratories in which experiments on animals are conducted, babies born in-house are forcibly torn from their frantic mothers and permanently separated from them – usually within three days of birth. Numerous investigations have found that, in order to abduct primates from their homes in the wild, trappers often shoot mothers in trees, stunning the animals with dart guns and then capturing their babies, who try to cling, panic-stricken, to their mothers’ bodies. Notoriously cruel maternal-deprivation experiments traumatise baby animals and their mothers in the name of “science” but have little relevance to human mental illness. You can help stop this suffering by signing our petition urging Air India to stop transporting animals to laboratories for experiments.
The Entertainment Industry Tears Families Apart
Elephants are highly social beings who, in nature, live in close-knit, matriarchal herd societies. Baby elephants are looked after not only by their mothers but also by other female elephants. Mothers often don’t wean their babies until they are almost 10 years old. Baby elephants destined for the “entertainment” industry are separated from their mothers when they’re as young as 3 years old or less, which traumatises these intelligent, sensitive animals, who mourn the loss of their loved ones. Help keep mother and baby elephants together by never patronising circuses, zoos and other places that exploit animals.
You can also e-mail [email protected] to request leaflets, stickers, DVDs and posters to help spread the word about these cruel industries.
At a time when India is rightly focused on improving the lives of women, let’s be sure not to leave our sisters of other species behind. After all, we’re all children of Mother Nature, so let’s treat our animal friends with respect, compassion and love.
