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City of Plymouth Animal Welfare Charter
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Vivisection
Farmed Animals
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Animals in 'entertainment'
Dairy Products and Eggs
Campaigns in Plymouth
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Dairy
Just like human females. cows produce milk only after giving birth. But in order to yeild the vast quantities demanded by the modern milk industry, they are subjected to a constant cycle of pregnancies - nearly always by artificial insemination, and often involving the surgical manipulation of embryos. They are also given a difficult-to-digest, high protein diet. Around 20% of UK dairy cows are lame at any given time - either beacuse their painfully swollen udders prevent them from standing or walking properly, or as a result of their dirty, crowded and damp winter housing.
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When they are no longer profitable milk machines, the spent cows are 'culled'. Many will be exhausted and laking milk through distended udders by the time they are trucked out to the slaughterhouse. They used to be made into cheap burger or pie meat but because of BSE, they are now simply killed and turned into waste. Some are in an advanced stage of pregnancy when destroyed. |
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Poor calf
Soon after giving birth, their calves - who are fed skimmed milk powder rather than their own mother's milk - are stolen away and most are bartered for a few pounds. They are no more than a waste by-product of the industry. Seperation of mother and infant causes acute anxiety for both. Cows will bellow for their lost young for days.
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Choose dairy-free!
There are many delicious dairy-free versions of milk, cheese, yogurt and flavoured drink products. You can even buy substitute eggs! There are no nutrients in milk products that cannot be obtained from plant food - calcium included.
www.viva.org.uk
www.vegansoc.co.uk
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Veal crates
Veal crates are now thankfully banned in the UK, but many calves are exported to Europe where they will be kept in tiny, dark, barren crates to ensure that their flesh stays white for when they are slaughtered for veal. |
From shell to hell
Male chicks, useless to the egg industry, are either tossed alive into a grinding machine, killed with carbon monoxide, or tossed into rubbish bins alive. Female chicks have their beaks seared off with a red-hot iron. Then they are squashed into a tiny cage with four others; they have as little space as you or I would if we lived our entire lives in a phone box with three other adults! Fifteen months and about 300 eggs later, they're packed into trucks and sent to slaughter. Their battered flesh is made into dog food, "chicken" pies or soup. Chicken and eggs are a leading cause of food-borne illness. Salmonella? no thanks! |
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