Honor Mothers of All Species this Mother's Day
Farmed animals care about their babies and are some of the most devoted mothers in the animal kingdom. Yet animal agriculture is built on the destruction of motherhood. Every year, billions of farmed animals are forcibly bred for the sole purpose of being exploited and killed for their milk and flesh.
Did you know?
Dairy cows are repeatedly impregnated and calf after calf is taken from them just days after birth, so that the milk produced for their young can instead be consumed by humans. Male calves are sent to be raised and slaughtered for beef or veal, while female calves are typically raised as dairy cows, like their mothers – beginning this cruel cycle of life and death all over again..
Mother pigs spend months on end confined in gestation crates during pregnancy and farrowing crates during nursing, only able to nurse and connect with their piglets through metal bars. They’ll spend their entire lives nearly immobilized.
At the hatcheries that supply female chicks to factory egg farms, small farms, and backyard egg enthusiasts alike, male chicks are killed shortly after birth by being ground up alive in giant macerators, gassed, electrocuted, or left to suffocate in garbage bags and dumpsters. Because male chicks will never lay eggs, they are considered worthless to the egg industry, and so are disposed of as trash.
Lauren, one of ARC's VegKins coordinators, recently said, "I was one of the people who thought they loved animals all my life, while eating them. When my son was born and after watching documentaries I became vegan overnight after learning the truth about dairy. (I thought cows just made milk for no reason.) I couldn't harm another mother and child, and I also felt responsibility to save the environment so Simon can live a long healthy life on this planet. I love teaching him about why we are vegan and how we can help others become vegan." Please consider joining Lauren in adopting a plant-based diet.
Contact ARC for help if you're interested in going
– and staying
– vegan in a way that works for you.
