She Was Kicked in the Face, Ribs, and Back ... November 2, 2009

Posted by Ryan at November 2, 2009 4:56 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 14 ) | TrackBack

This is the heartbreaking true story of a downed cow who was kicked in the face, ribs, and back in an effort to get her to stand up.

What do you call someone who kicks a defenseless animal when they're down?

Ground Beef October 5, 2009

Posted by Rachel-O at October 5, 2009 3:47 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 10 ) | TrackBack

marlerblog / CC

One of the first things that made me happy to go vegetarian, was learning that one single hamburger can be made up of over 100 different cows. I'm not sure what grossed me out about that specific fact more than anything else, but even now, thinking about that makes my stomach turn. That thought—combined with the one time I bit into a hamburger from some fast food place that was almost entirely raw in the middle—made me give up ground beef for good when I was 10.

When people learn I'm vegan, the first thing they often say is, "I could never give up my hamburger!". Gag. Hamburger? Really? That's what's so important to you? A writer from The New York Times recently wrote an article on exactly what's behind that gross blob of animal parts known as ground beef, and here's what he found:

"Ground beef is usually not simply a chunk of meat run through a grinder. Instead, records and interviews show, a single portion of hamburger meat is often an amalgam of various grades of meat from different parts of cows and even from different slaughterhouses. These cuts of meat are particularly vulnerable to E. coli contamination, food experts and officials say. Despite this, there is no federal requirement for grinders to test their ingredients for the pathogen."

Yeah, no thanks. The article focuses on a 22 year old woman—a former dance teacher—who ate a hamburger, went into a coma for 9 weeks, and almost died. She's now paralyzed because of the E.coli from a hamburger her mom made for her on the family grill.

Wow, is anyone else completely at a loss for how anyone can still eat this crap? Cows killed to end up ground up for someone's burger live their sad lives standing in their own urine and feces—and E.coli bacteria happens when feces from cattle comes into contact with their flesh during the slaughter process. Yum?

I am so happy that I don't have to worry about bacteria from someone's colon being in my veggie burger, because really, that shit's nasty. Is there one moment that made you realize that meat was just, well, vile?


P.S. Still looking for that last reason to give up milk? Many cows killed for ground beef are "spent" dairy cows, sent to slaughter because their flesh is too bruised and weak to be sold for anything else. Just go vegan already.

Milk Drinkers: Try to Stomach This One October 2, 2009

Posted by Rachel-O at October 2, 2009 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 18 ) | TrackBack

Calves are chained by the neck into crates so small they can't turn around or lay down comfortably.
advocacy.brittanica / CC

Aside from the disgusting undercover investigation we launched earlier this week into a supplier for Land O' Lakes—showing farm workers kicking and electro-shocking cows too sick to stand up—what's another convincing reason to stop drinking pus, I mean milk?

The veal industry. Baby cows, because their mom's milk ends up on store shelves, 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: Veal just might be laced with poison.

That's right—federal charges have been issued against Select Veal Foods 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? Every glass of milk you drink has a little veal in it. Not only do you contribute to the suffering of an infant, you also risk eating toxic chemicals that you'd find in your high school chemistry lab. What can you do? Try veganism today!

Land O'Lakes Says It Doesn't Inspect Facilities for the Treatment of Animals October 1, 2009

Posted by Marta at October 1, 2009 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 6 ) | TrackBack

Here's an update from PETA's Heather Drennan on our new undercover investigation into a dairy farm. Check it out, and if you haven't yet, why not make the pledge to try veganism?
-Marta

PETA's investigation footage from a filthy Pennsylvania dairy facility that supplies Land O'Lakes continues to receive massive press coverage. All the coverage has prompted the Fortune 250 company to issue an official statement—one that only serves to highlight the profit-driven callousness and lack of concern for animals within the corporation and the dairy industry as a whole.

Jeanne Forbis, the director of communications at Land O'Lakes, said, "[W]hen state-certified inspectors do inspections at dairy farms they are inspecting for milk and equipment sanitation practices, not animal treatment."

Is that supposed to be the "excuse" for why the Land O'Lakes inspector didn't bother to note that cows were living in filth, without bedding or a clean, dry place for shelter? Or that lameness and mastitis were rampant? How about the fact that there were cows who were so debilitated and thin that they looked like skeletons with skin draped over them?

Frankly, the inspector didn't do very well on inspecting for sanitation either. Take a look at the video—animals are virtually swimming in a soup of urine and fecal matter. All Forbis's comment does is raise some serious doubts about the quality of the sanitation inspections that led to the approval of this facility.

Various agencies are now looking into PETA's allegations of abuse, as well as sanitation and food safety violations, against the dairy facility's owners. Abuse of animals in the dairy industry is nothing new, so please consider dropping cholesterol and cruelty-filled dairy products from your diet.

-Heather

Cancelled: Lessons to Help Keep You Alive March 6, 2009

Posted by Marta at March 6, 2009 3:39 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 7 ) | TrackBack

As some of you may know, T. Colin Campbell is world-renowned author and professor at Cornell University. He wrote the best-selling book called The China Study about the relationship between the consumption of animal products and illnesses like cancer, obesity, osteoporosis, heart disease, and diabetes (did I mention zits?). His work has been highly praised for helping to re-shape how people think about food.

Unfortunately, there are some people who believe that thinking about food (and more specifically where it comes from) is a bad thing—the people who profit from selling us unhealthy products (not surprising), but apparently also, surprisingly, the very people who are meant to be helping students to learn.

You see, Prof. Campbell had become known around the Cornell campus for his "Vegetarian Nutrition" class, which talked about the fact that meat and dairy products are contributing to way worse conditions than just the "Freshman 15". However, many students will never hear about these statistics, because the class was cancelled by the university, with no notification given to the professor. Now why on Earth would they do that?

Well as it turns out, the department head who cancelled the class allegedly has strong ties to the dairy industry, who we can only imagine were none too pleased that all these "obesity" concerns were being discussed in public.

Of course, the university refused to give an official reason for the class being pulled. I'm sure they had their reasons. Just a strange coincidence—right?

Cheese: It's Grosser Than You Thought January 15, 2009

Posted by Ryan at January 15, 2009 9:57 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 9 ) | TrackBack

It's been a great couple of days for veganism on MSNBC. First, the frustratingly loveable crew of "Morning Joe" talked this morning about everybody's new favorite peta2 campaign — Sea Kittens! — and now this...

In an article titled "Cheese — it's grosser than you thought", the network documents the truly horrifying levels of "bacteria, stomach lining, pesticides, and pure fat" that comes with every pus-filled slice of cheese (excluding vegan cheese, obviously).

Of course, this isn't breaking news to us at peta2. We've been telling people the nasty side of cow's milk for years (see here, and here, and here).

News articles like these are always great to send to friends and relatives though, who will likely be disgusted to see what they've been eating/drinking/spraying out the nose. "Hey Grandma, guess what?!?" :)

Hug a Vegetarian Day > World School Milk Day September 24, 2008

Posted by Ryan at September 24, 2008 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 9 ) | TrackBack

As we all know, it's the most wonderful time of the year, with International Hug a Vegetarian Day right around the corner!

Leave it to the milk industry to go and spoil an otherwise perfectly good week, by creating a ridiculous "holiday" called World School Milk Day. Their clear attempt to ride the wave of success from Hug a Veg Day has not gone unnoticed...

Well, in observation of this nonsense holiday, we've created a little list of the Top 5 Reasons Why Milk Sucks (believe me, we could have done a Top 100 if we had enough time):

1) Got Pus? Milk does. Mmm, deliciously revolting.

2) Cows produce milk for their babies—not for humans. Could you imagine if other species did this? Cats drinking from dogs? Pigs from humans? That'd be freakin' weird.

3) Because those who drink milk share responsibility for the suffering of cows and calves outside the dairy industry, there's essentially a hunk of veal in every glass of milk. Every single veal calf in this country is the child of a cow used for dairy. Hard to swallow, yes?

4) Because soy milk is much more fun to splash around in. Just ask Pulin.

5) Because those "Got Milk?" ads are total B.S. Cow's milk actually increases the risk of, rather than prevents, osteoporosis. I don't think that's what they mean when they say "break a leg".

So all in all, today's "holiday" is just as good a day as ever to give milk the boot. In honor of the fine cruelty peddlers in the dairy industry, I present to you our newest anti-milk ad:

- Ryan!

P.S. - If you're looking for a fun activity to pass the time, click on the U.S. map on this page to see how much pus your state allows! Virginia allows 333,000,000 somatic cells (read: pus) in each glass of milk. I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.

Oprah is Going Vegan for 21 Days! May 21, 2008

Posted by Patricia at May 21, 2008 4:42 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 7 ) | TrackBack

Photo Credit: NPX/starmaxinc.com

You read that right, Oprah Winfrey is going vegan as part of a 21 day cleanse! She announced on her show yesterday that she is thinking about going vegetarian. She read Quantum Wellness by Kathy Freston, and has decided to eliminate all animal products from her diet as part of an "inner makeover", i.e.: a vegan cleanse for three weeks!

I love me some Oprah. I was an Oprah fan long before most of the country even knew who she was. I grew up watching Oprah when she did double-time as an anchor and as a co-host of a chat show on WJZ-TV channel 13 in Baltimore and have been enamored of her ever since.

Of course now that she's Oprah Winfrey: Media Mogul and World-wide Mega Star, she has the power to influence millions and save countless animals. She's already started blogging about the experience stating, "Wow, wow, wow! I never imagined meatless meals could be so satisfying. I had been focused on what I had to give up—sugar, gluten, alcohol, meat, chicken, fish, eggs, cheese. "What's left?" I thought. Apparently a lot. I can honestly say every meal was a surprise and a delight, beginning with breakfast—strawberry rhubarb wheat-free crepes."

Yum, crepes. Sounds delightful to me! Here's hoping she sticks to her vegan diet, and that her legions of fans follow in her footsteps.

xox
Patricia

P.S. If you're considering eliminating animals from your diet but aren't sure where to start, we can help. Start by taking the seven day veg pledge!

Got Pus? Milk Does! December 12, 2007

Posted by Pulin Modi at December 12, 2007 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 16 ) | TrackBack

Got Pus? Milk Does!

You must know that in addition to being disgusting to think about or look at, you would never want to drink a cup filled with pus-containing liquid, right?

Well guess what? If you are drinking cow's milk, chances are you are drinking pus cells! Sick! Cows' udders often get so sore and infected that they start leaking pus cells into milk! Imagine how painful that is for each cow? I bet pus swimming around in your belly doesn't sound so appetizing, either.

So why am I bringing this up now, you might be wondering? Well, it's not just so you spare Santa and the cows the suffering which comes from dunking some cookies into glasses of milk that may contain pus.

I'm bringing this up because PETA recently got a really not-so-friendly letter from some lawyers who get paid by the California Milk Producers Board. You can read it here, but basically it says that they don't like us using the Got Pus? campaign. Boo hoo! Apparently our GotPus.com site makes them sad. Again, boo hoo for the big companies who are upset that people will be informed about the cruelty their products support.

Anyway, our response, which you can read here, basically tells them that we're fully within our rights to speak the truth about the gross stuff that is in dairy (like pus) and the terrible things cows' milk does to human beings (Got Zits?, Got Cancer?). Of course, we also want people to learn about what's wrong with dairy in the way it's responsible for cruelty to animals in the form of veal calves, sad mother cows who miss their babies and often live in filthy conditions, and all kinds of terrible things like that.

If you're as excited as I am that this dairy group is pissed off at PETA, you might want to check out the merchandise which has made them especially irritated. Feel free to buy some stuff to spite them. We also have a peta2 Cafe Press store which features lots more fun shirts and other merch.

So while the dairy group tries to think of another way to harass kind-hearted people, I hope you'll all take a minute to laugh at them and read a bit about how you can help cows.

-Pulin

P.S.- Feel free to copy and post this web banner to your page!

<a href="http://www.peta2.com/index.aspx?c=11" target=_blank><img src="http://blog.peta2.com/got_pus.JPG"></a>