Here's some welcome news: Despite the barrage of deceptive dairy industry propaganda, sales of cow's milk—already in free fall—have plummeted in the U.S. It seems that more and more consumers are getting the message that dairy foods are as bad for our health as they are for the well-being of cows. 

To make sure the downward trend continues, PETA is re-releasing its series of popular ads parodying the industry's "Got Milk?" campaign. Check them out:

1. On dairy factory farms, male calves are of no use in milk production, so they are often taken away from their mothers when they are as young as 1 day old to be chained up in tiny stalls for weeks—terrified and desperate for their mothers—and fed an inadequate milk substitute to make them miserably anemic in order to produce the pale flesh most desired for veal.

2. Female cows don't fare much better: After having their sensitive horn tissue cut or burned away, most are forced into a vicious cycle of nearly continuous pregnancy, only to have calf after calf taken away so that the milk they produce to nourish their young can be consumed by humans instead. And, of course, once they stop producing enough milk to be profitable, they are sent off to slaughter. 

3. Cow's milk is intended for, well, baby cows, not baby humans, so it shouldn't be a surprise that it's not good for our kids, raising their risk for a variety of childhood complaints. 

4. Adolescence is hard enough without dealing with blemishes. Take it from Woody Harrelson—to lose the pimples, lose the milk.

5. It's not just kids who have to worry about milk mucking up their health—men have good reason to dump dairy products, too.

6. Ugh. Would you drink a glass of water to which even one drop of pus from a cow's infected udders had been added? No? Then why drink cow's milk?

What You Can Do

Steer clear (no cow pun intended) of cow's milk and other dangerous dairy products. And since all foods from animals result from suffering, the only way to be truly cruelty-free is to go vegan. 

With the discovery of mad cow disease in a cow from a California dairy farm and in potentially more cows as the U.S. Department of Agriculture searches for her former herdmates, PETA presents the top 10 reasons why cows are so darn mad:

1. How Many Kids and Counting?
   Unless you're Michelle Duggar, you probably have no inclination to crank out one baby after another. Neither do cows used for their milk, but they are kept almost constantly pregnant so that they will continue to produce more milk.
2. Crying Over Stolen Milk
   Mother cows know the meaning of "mother's love" too, and they often wail, sometimes for days, when their babies are taken away so that people can steal the milk that nature intended for their calves.
3. A Scene Out of a Saw Movie
   Farmers use one of several "Jigsaw"-inspired instruments—such as guillotine dehorners, caustic chemicals, searing-hot irons, and saws—to remove cows' horns and calves' sensitive horn tissue.



A barbaric device known as a "keystone" or "guillotine" dehorner

4. Castration Without So Much as an Aspirin
   Guys, you wouldn't like it. Male calves don't either.
5. Baby Bullies
   Veal is supposedly "tender" flesh, but there is nothing tender about how it is produced. Male calves, who are useless to the dairy industry because they don't produce milk, are often forced to live alone inside frighteningly tiny, dark crates for months, kept virtually immobilized so that their muscles can't develop, and deprived of sufficient iron, leaving their flesh the desired pale color.
6. A Bunch of Bull Crap
   Forcing cows to stand ankle-deep in feces on filthy lots is … you know the appropriate word.
7. Debbie Downer
   Downed cows are no longer allowed into the food supply, but what happens to them is a serious downer. They are sometimes simply left to die from their illness or injuries or from dehydration.
8. There's no D.A.R.E. Program for Cows
   Farmers genetically manipulate and sometimes drug cows in order to force them to produce up to four and a half times as much milk as they naturally would for their calves.
9. The Road Trip From Hell
   Anyone who has ever been crammed shoulder to shoulder in a coupe for an extended road trip knows how miserable it is, and that's even with bathroom breaks, food, water, and temperature controls. And while the trip may end at an annoying relative's house, at least it doesn't end at the slaughterhouse.
10. This Is the Thanks They Get
    After years of birthin' babies and pumping out thousands of gallons of milk, do cows used for their milk get a comfy retirement? Heck, no! They get sent to slaughter, where, in the words of one slaughterhouse worker, they "die piece by piece." A longtime slaughterhouse worker said he frequently cut the legs off completely conscious cows who blinked and made noises as their bodies were hacked apart.

Don't Get Mad—Get Vegan. Grab a free vegetarian/vegan starter kit and make for fewer mad cows in the world.

Jerry wasn't the outgoing, center-of-attention type. Even as a young calf, he seemed to possess the peaceful, quiet air of a wise old man, content to spend warm afternoons gazing out across the landscape with his best friend by his side.

Jerry enjoys a quiet afternoon with his friend Patrick. 
Courtesy of the Cow Sanctuary

But Jerry's early life was anything but serene. Rescued during a PETA investigation of a filthy dairy factory farm that supplied Land O'Lakes, Jerry was crippled, infested with lice and ringworm, and nearly blind from pink eye. He and another calf were taken in by the Cow Sanctuary, and with considerable love and medical care, they healed.

Instead of being killed for veal, as is the fate of most male calves in the dairy industry, Jerry spent his life as every animal should—exploring his surroundings, enjoying the company of friends (especially his pig friend, Patrick), and reveling in treats and love from his guardians.

Last week, with his health declining, Jerry was euthanized. He left this world as quietly as he lived in it, but the steer with the gentle spirit left a permanent mark on the hearts of those who loved him.

Farewell, sweet Jerry.

This just in from an alert PETA member: Gerber is selling baby food made out of veal. For some reason, this struck us at the PETA Files as especially spit-up-inducing. Feeding babies to babies just seems sort of … I don't know, cannibalistic? Want some puréed fava beans with that, Junior?

Would you feed me to your baby?

But then we started thinking: Veal is one of those foods that even many carnivores shy away from because of the horrors that are now widely known to be involved in its production—horrors such as tearing babies away from their mothers and locking them in up boxes for a few months before prodding them on wobbly, atrophied legs to slaughter. But the truth is that most animals who are killed for food are still babies when they are strung up on the slaughter line.

Because of "modern" innovations such as feeding animals growth-promoting drugs and selectively breeding them so that they'll grow fatter faster, pigs and turkeys are on average just 6 months old when they are killed, and chickens are just 7 weeks old. By comparison, steers who are raised for beef are old-timers when they are killed at between 1 and 2 years of age.

It's enough to make strained carrots sound downright … grown-up.

There's been some online chatter that the Veal and Veal Gravy baby food has been discontinued, but it's still listed on Gerber's website. Have you seen this "baby cruelty in a jar" at your local market?

Written by Alisa Mullins

topnews / CC

This one goes out to any stonehearted, selfish so-and-so who still eats veal:

Baby cows are torn from their mothers hours after they're born and then kept weak and immobile in filthy pens for the entirety of their short lives. And if that fails to register your compassion or your disgust, let's try this tidbit: Your next veal meal just might be laced with poison.

That's right—federal charges have been issued against Select Veal Feeds Inc. for allegedly lacing feed with formaldehyde in order to lessen diarrhea and with potassium permanganate to ensure that the anemic calves' flesh appeared even lighter. Wayne Marcho and Select Veal Feeds are expected to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of misbranding under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The company also faces a felony charge for lying to Food and Drug Administration inspectors.

The moral of this story? If you eat veal, not only do you contribute to the suffering of an infant, you also risk eating toxic chemicals that you'd find in a high school chemistry lab.

Written by Karin Bennett

The G8 Summit has been all over the news this weekend. And one of the top stories to emerge from this gathering of great minds? Sarah Brown, wife of British prime minister Gordon Brown, shunned veal—not once but twice! She even tweeted about it:

img.thesun.co / CC

This isn't the first time Mrs. Brown has refused to support the cruel veal industry. At the NATO Summit in Strasbourg earlier this year, she refused to eat veal or foie gras!

Mrs. Brown apparently realizes that in the veal industry, calves are ripped from their mothers' care immediately after they are born. They are then tethered in small, dark pens—unable to move more than a single step in any direction—and fed a diet lacking in necessary nutrients. All this is done in order to keep their flesh "tender" for when these babies are killed for someone's dinner.

Kudos to Mrs. Brown for taking a stand against animal abuse. You can follow her lead by ordering a free copy of our "Vegetarian Starter Kit" today.

Written by Shawna Flavell

indybay / CC

They say, "As Maine goes, so goes the nation.".

With that in mind, have you heard the news out of Maine? It's the sixth state to pass legislation significantly changing rights for state residents.

No, not that. I'm talking about this recent legislation, which bans the use of veal and gestation crates statewide.

That's right. As of January 1, 2011, calves will no longer be immobilized in tiny stalls for the production of veal, nor will mother pigs be trapped in gestation crates, on factory farms in Maine. Woo hoo!

And, of course, this follows news that U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine co-sponsored a resolution urging Canada to end the seal slaughter.

Maine's state motto is "Dirigo," which means, "I lead." When it comes to protecting animals, that certainly seems to be true!

Written by Jeff Mackey

There is an end in sight, and while this isn't going to stop us from doing everything in our power to end all abuses of cows right now, the announcement this week by the American Veal Association that they will phase out veal crates by 2017 is a major landmark for the animal protection movement and proof that decades of pressure on the industry to end its cruel practices has paid off.

Veal, which rates a full 10 out of 10 on the WTF? scale, is made by chaining calves by their necks inside solitary crates for up to 23 weeks. The AVA's decision to finally abandon this torture means an end in sight for what will one day be regarded as among the most vile practices in human history.

This announcement marks the latest in a series of victories for the animal protection movement in its long struggle to eliminate the solitary, intensive confinement of farmed animals. Earlier this year, three of the world's largest pig meat producers—Smithfield Foods, Maple Leaf Foods, and Cargill Meat Solutions—took steps to phase out gestation crates for pigs, and recently, following years of discussions with PETA, Burger King made a commitment to buy 20 percent of its pig meat from suppliers that do not use gestation crates and 5 percent of its eggs from sources that do not confine chickens to battery cages. Shortly afterwards, Wendy's followed suit, pledging to purchase 20 percent crate-free pork by the end of 2008 and increase that percentage over time.

This is an important step forward, and, put together with these other victories for animals, it's clearly part of a trend. As Ingrid Newkirk puts it, "While the best way to prevent cruelty to animals is to simply stop eating them, any progress made toward mitigating their suffering is commendable."