Reply #85: Here's a fun one.

[shockra]

From Diet for a New America, by John Robbins.

The Farm Animals Concern Trust (FACT) is an organization trying to improve the lot of today's veal calves. In one of their mailers, they made the following charges against the industry.

"Veal calves are:

*denied sufficient mother's milk
*trucked to auctions when only a day or two old
*commingled with sick and dying animals
*sold to veal factories where they are chained for life in individual crates only 22 inches wide
*fed government surplus skim milk
*denied solid food to chew on
*made anemic
*kept in the dark to reduce their restlessness
*plagued by respiratory and intestinal disease
*unable to lie down normally
*deprived of any bedding
*unable to walk at all, let alone romp and play"

A veal producer got hold of the mailer, but didn't know how to counter the statements it made. So he sent the mailer to the editor of the industry's journal requesting an effective rebuttal from the industry experts. The editor of The Vealer USA, a man named Charles A. Hirshy, looked over the charges made by the FACT mailer, and then answered as follows.

"Thank you for the information about FACT. We've read the information and regret that we are unable to counter their statements."

*******
And that's a list without all the gorey details. Many of the calves also go blind, having been kept in complete darkness all the time except for the two times a day when they're fed skim milk (and never given any water, which forces them to drink as much of the milk as they can in an effort to keep from dying of thirst). Calves often die after going blind, which is a big inconvenience to veal producers.

They're also pumped full of massive and constant amounts of carcinogenic drugs in an effort to keep them alive (which still doesn't always work). One of them causes a fatal blood disorder in a significant percentage of humans. Yet the strongest drugs available are needed because the calves are so extremely sick.

They're never allowed to nurse from their mothers, even once, because that would create a bond between cow and calf, and cows will try to break down fences and cause all kinds of "trouble" trying to get to their calf.