Animals Are Mothers and Have Mothers Too
Published May 10, 2009 @ 04:30AM PT
It's Mother's Day. The animals people will eat today as they celebrate the women in their life? Those animals had mothers too. Some of those animals were mothers too. Love between mother and young is not unique to humans. The mother-child bond is real and deep and strong in the animals we forcibly separate, abuse, and kill. In particular, today, please think about the cows (and calves) being used and killed for dairy; the pigs being used as birthing machines so that humans can eat their children; the hens being put through hell so that humans can eat their unfertilized eggs and the hens being put through hell as breeders for hatcheries. They are all mothers. And they are being exploited and killed as mothers.
In particular, remember the bellowing and grief of mothers that accompanies not only flesh consumption, but also and especially consumption of dairy--all dairy, conventional, organic, whatever. Remember the frightened, slaughtered babies.
Is any taste worth their suffering? And is there anything more horrible you can do to a mother than tear away her babies, over and over again, while she cries out and looks helplessly on?
Celebrate your mother today, but please do it without contributing to and sanctioning the suffering of so many other mothers. They loved and were loved too. For the love and respect of mothers, go vegan.
Photo above from Farm Sanctuary. Original caption: "A mother cow refuses to leave the side of her dead calf at a California dairy."
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Author
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Stephanie Ernst is an independent animal rights advocate, a vegan, a tree-hugging environmentalist, and a freelance editor and writer. She lives in St. Louis with an aging corgi-lab and an adolescent rescued pit bull. In her advocacy, she works to challenge prevailing perceptions of animals, to show the connections between animal exploitation and other injustices, to help people see that animals are more like us than different, and to encourage compassionate, nonviolent living and eating.
Thanks, Stephanie.
We can bring an end to cruelty merely by not consuming dairy (and by refraining from eating meat and eggs, or course).
Also, Happy "Non-Mothers" Day to all the dogs and cats whose humans have had them spayed.
Posted by C W on 05/10/2009 @ 06:45AM PT
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Thank you for this, Stephanie.
Happy mother's day to all the human and non-human mothers of the world...and to the "adopted" moms of cross-species companions, as well. I know I can't compensate for my animal companions' estrangement from their own mothers, but I'll try my best to do right by them, now and always.
Posted by Kelly Garbato on 05/10/2009 @ 09:10AM PT
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Thank you for this post. I am guilty of not being a vegan, but I am trying. What I am good at being is someone whose life is given to caring for these creatures. PETA is the reason I am a vegetarian and have been for around 30 years. And my 9 cats, 6 dogs and 1 domestic rat know that their life is safe and protected now. But for these animals we call "food", their lives keep me awake at nights so often. Please think about what is on your plate and speak out. If you make others feel uncomfortable then so be it. That is trivial compared to the suffering of these animals whose lives I give as much value to as my own.
Posted by The Southern Alliance for Animal Welfare Pet Education & Sterilization Services on 05/10/2009 @ 09:16PM PT
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I have recently started to really think about the things that are happening around us in the world, and how we just accept them as normal. The things we buy at the shops, the chemicals in our food, and of course the neatly packaged meat and milk that we buy, without ever giving a thought to where it came from. Now I am thinking about it, I cant stop, so I have started a website to try and get others thinking about it as well ( www.earthwiselifewise.com ). We just take this stuff for granted, we drink milk, eat eggs, eat meat etc etc. When you live in a big city, its just another product on the shelf. We need to start being aware!!
Posted by Peita Gardiman on 05/11/2009 @ 02:29AM PT
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Good call Stephanie. As always, I ate vegan yesterday- but I gave no special thought to animal mothers when I called my own mom and grandma.
I will keep this in mind for future years. Thanks :)
Posted by Michael A. Weber on 05/11/2009 @ 07:05AM PT
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