To the editor:

Once again the factory farming industry has proved itself morally bankrupt. Shocking footage released last week by Mercy For Animals showed workers at a dairy farm in Ohio torturing newborn calves by stomping their heads, stabbing them with pitchforks, beating them with crowbars and one cow had its nose wired to a metal bar near the ground and was repeatedly beaten.

In February, footage taken at a dairy operation in New York revealed similar, violent abuses: baby cows having their tails cut off without anesthesia, being hit and kicked and their eyes gouged. Footage from a Land O’Lakes dairy supplier in Pennsylvania showed workers doing the same type of cruelties. And in a Bushway packing plant in Vermont that slaughters days-old male dairy calves (veal), many so young their umbilical cords were still attached, a worker was filmed trying to skin a calf alive directly in front of a USDA inspector (most people don’t realize the dairy industry is inextricably linked to the veal industry).

The dairy industry would like the public to believe these are isolated incidents. However, it’s becoming crystal clear these types of sadistic cruelties are the norm.

Unfortunately, organic cow’s milk isn’t much better either. With more people turning to organic milk, many producers are being forced to adopt cruel factory farming practices, just to keep up with demand.

Thankfully, with healthy, delicious alternatives to cow’s milk such as soy, rice and almond milks, no one has to support this kind of cruelty anymore.

Ann Wilson,

Lawrence