Deadly Dairy
Today on the occasion of National Milk Day, Animal Equality India presents a documentary titled, ‘Deadly Dairy’.
It shows how laws related to animal welfare, environment, food safety and human rights are rampantly violated.
Visit https://animalequality.in/india-deadly-dairy/ to sign the petition requesting the government to introduce rules for the protection of dairy animals.
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Transcript (English — en-x-autogen)
Have you ever noticed that humans are the only animal
who continues to drink milk into adulthood?
No other animal continues to drink milk into adulthood,
much less the milk of an entirely different species.
Perhaps this is all part of why more
and more adults across the world
are finally weaning themselves off dairy,
and perhaps that's why these animals are celebrating
because they're free.
Just like us, cattle
and buffaloes experience a wide range of emotions,
everything from joy
and love to fear and grief.
Even on dairy farms, calves are born into the world
with the same innate wonder
and curiosity as any other child.
But on dairy farms, joy is short-lived.
Animal equality conducted an extensive undercover
investigation into dairy farms all across India.
What you are about to witness
are standard practices in dairies of all sizes,
both in villages and in cities.
India is the world's largest producer and consumer of dairy,
and it takes a tremendous number of animals
to meet our demand.
Like humans, dairy animals only produce milk
after giving birth and so on.
Dairy farms. These naturally friendly
and curious creature are exploited
and abused to produce
and endless supply of milk for human consumption.
Semen is harvested from bulls that are forced
to mount other captive males known in the dairy
industry as teasers.
The semen is then used
to artificially inseminate the female animals, often
by inexperienced men without gloves
or any sanitized equipment whatsoever.
Each cow and buffalo is forcibly impregnated every year from
the time she first hits puberty
until she's no longer fertile.
Artificial insemination is performed on a massive scale in
dairies of all sizes
and in all dairies.
Large and small animals spend their entire lives tied
or chained the tethers often so short
that they can barely move.
For most, this means they have no other place to stand
or sit, but in their own feces
and urine, which leads to illness
and infection
in all that time.
Each baby born is a baby taken away way.
Newborn calves are denied even the mother's first milk known
as colostrum, which is essential
for building a baby's immune system.
Without colostrum and without proper care.
Some calves die within days.
For those that do survive, things only get worse.
The babies are sorted by gender.
Females are used to replace the older ailing mothers
that are no longer fertile or producing enough milk.
Since males can't produce milk, they're left to die
or sold to slaughter.
Male offspring face the same fate on dairy farms
of all sizes is
the dormant isn't just physical, but emotional.
When her baby is taken from them, a cow will moan the loss.
She withholds milk as she only wants to nurse her young.
Of course, the industry has ways of dealing
with those that resist.
It's common for farmers to stuff the body
or even just the head of a dead calf with hay just
to trick the mother into thinking she can feed her baby
to coax every drop of milk from her body.
Workers inject her with oxytocin.
Dairy owners tend to believe that oxytocin
increases the amount of milk produced,
but the reality is that it only speeds the flow each
and every time an animal is injected, the pain is on par
with going into labor.
Repeated trauma destroys her reproductive system,
though use of this hormone is banned
by the government of India.
Oxytocin is still in widespread use in Indian dairies.
It is bought and sold covertly, often disguised as sweets.
Each carton of 50 injections sold 400 rupees
as if the illegal
and forceful administration of drugs wasn't enough.
Female cows are also subjected to cruel milking machines.
What starts as a painful process grows excruciating,
especially as it's common for negligent workers
to leave the machines on long
after the animals have been pumped.
Dry Workers also abuse the animals
deliberately a viciously.
Along with the routine abusers, many animals are forced
to undergo inhumane experiments aimed at further
increasing milk production.
Scientists cut tennis ball sized holes in the sides of cows
in order to study the effects of certain foods
on increased milk production.
Along with increased milk production
comes an increased birth rate
and an increased risk of birth complications that lead
to obstructed labor instead of performing C-sections,
which would be costly,
outdated procedures like these are performed
where force is exerted on the uterus of the mother.
No matter what tortures
and abusers, dairy animals are made to suffer.
None of them receive medical attention.
Caring for these animals would cost money,
and dairy farmers are only motivated to maximize profits.
It's not uncommon for dairy owners
to abandon their sick animals.
Life on the street is no easy task.
As many fall victim to those who would prey on the weak.
Many others who aren't deliberately hurt wind up in
accidents, and those just desperate enough are forced
to eat garbage
in the wild.
The average lifespan of a cow or buffalo is 15 to 20 years,
but since such intensive abuse takes such a toll on their
bodies, dairy animals survive only four
to five years at the most.
Once they're no longer of any use to dairy owners,
the animals are sold.
We asked farmers and dairymen
who exactly they sell these animals to.
There's no other for us. I don't.
The selling price of each animal is based on both the
perceived value of her meat and of her height.
In the past, only animals
who stopped producing milk was sold for slaughter,
but in recent years, animals have been sold
to butchers simply
because they don't produce as much milk
as the farmer would like.
And as if the prospect of slaughter wast grim enough,
each animal now faces a dangerous journey
to a slaughter house.
The frightened sick
and injured animals are forced onto the trucks by callous
and brutal means packed in tight
until there's no room left.
And even then, more animals, many
of them already half dead, are forced on top.
When the animals inevitably grow too exhausted to move,
they spurred by pain.
Handlers at the cattle market
typically break the animal's tails,
rub hot chili in the tired eyes
and shove sticks of fingers into their genitals.
Many of the animals are seriously injured
and some even die on the way to the slaughter house.
They are made to travel in such conditions for days
without any food
or water to ensure not a drop goes to waste.
Handlers will even try milking the animals one last time
before they are sent for slaughter.
Once they finally reach the slaughter house,
dairy animals are lined up for inspection.
They're clearly unhealthy and many more are hurt.
During the arduous trek to slaughter by law,
a veterinary official is supposed to be present
to inspect each animal an issue, a fit
for slaughter certificate.
But this law is blatantly violated again
and again As workers themselves mark each
and every animal for slaughter,
the animals are forced to watch as their mothers
and siblings are killed in front of them.
Butchers have developed many cruel ways to kill the animals.
One brutal practice is to repeatedly bludgeon a cow
with a sledge hammer until she falls.
Conscious
halal butchers will cut an animal's throat, not once
but repeatedly, while she's still fully conscious.
Those that can still summon the strength will try
to stand up and fight back or flee, as would anyone,
but resistance only invites further violence,
and so each terrified
and wounded animal is abused until her very last breath.
The Battle corpses are skinned and butchered one
after another, whilst their bodies are throbbing with life.
Each animal prized in a minds as a giver of life
is brutally killed and savagely mutilated.
This too happens in full view
of those who've just arrived at the final destination.
Everything you've seen here is in direct violation
of the prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960,
as well as HighCo and Supreme Court orders.
But our investigation found these rules disregarded at
every place we visited.
Dairy, meat
and leather are three sides of the same triangle.
Dairy farmers sell countless unwanted animals to slaughter
each and every day ensuring that the meat
and leather industries are heavily dependent on them.
This is how even if you don't eat meat
or wear leather consuming dairy fuels the cycle
of brutality, and it's not just the animals
that the industry is cruel to,
but also the workers, many of which are employed illegally
as their just children.
None of the workers earn the stipulated living wage
or are given any medical care.
Ultimately, we are all being harmed by the production
of dairy, meat,
and leather as those industries are destroying
our berry environment.
Over a third of the river water in use by people
is from the river ganga,
and that vital resource is polluted primarily
by the 700 tanneries located on its bank.
These industries also use a tremendous amount of water,
a resource that is becoming increasingly scarce.
In fact, the Indian government has announced that
by 2025, our country will run out of water.
It doesn't have to be this way.
We could save water
and save ourselves simply
by saving these animals from cruelty and abuse.
The good news is that you don't have to sacrifice animals
or your taste buds as there are many delicious alternatives
to traditional dairy.
In today's modern India, soya
and almond milk are now available at almost every
supermarket, and it's easy
to make other alternative milks at home.
From cashews, peanuts,
and rice all across the country, people are choosing
kindness over killing already.
You can too.