OPINION
The widely known non-profit organisation known as PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is an awareness group aiming to abolish animal cruelty in both domestic and agricultural environments.
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They have been praised for countless endeavours, including the nullification of animal testing and the discovery of severe abuse perpetrators; however, the association’s current objective to wipe out any animal exploitation on dairy farms is consequently damaging an industry.
Distinguishing between categories of dairy farms is critical in understanding why classifying the whole dairy regime as a barbaric system is irrational.
Farms have the ability to possess enough elements to be categorised as factory or free-range including other components such as organic or local.
Although each of these farms puts great effort and finance into the positive treatment of their animals, there are still a great deal of obstacles preventing farmers from indulging their animals in complete luxury.
One practical example that can be understood is PETA’s regularly repeated facts that the “mothers and babies are torn apart”. Though this practice may seem unnecessary, cows must give birth to be able to lactate, and young calves are far too weak to follow their mother through the process of milking, so farmers are forced to shelter the young in a different area from their parents.
Events that occur on these farms are not as sinister as organisations like PETA depict them to be.
The objective is to fixate consumer power on the destruction of the dairy industry with the promotion of vegan-styled diets. This is restated in nearly every article found on PETA’s website, however, this does not provide the happy solution that many may think.
Agriculture is a revolutionary concept that is said to be the source of modern civilisation; nevertheless, the practise of animal-based farming is still defamed after millennia of tradition.
The problem is how can the industry traditions be halted? Do we just open the gate and let the animals leave? How do they learn to survive on their own after centuries of relying on humanity to care for them?
These animals would not be better off away from a farmer’s protection.
Forty-eight year-old farmer, Leo Miller, has lived and worked on an organic, free-range dairy farm in south-west Victoria for most of his life, and is aware of the misconceptions that he must deal with through his professional lifestyle.
Miller sincerely noted, “If [farmers] don’t treat their animals right, they won’t produce whatever goods that they are producing”.
It’s important to consider the implications these farmers are to face if they intentionally harm or ignore their cattle. Without nutritious food, they cannot create quality milk; without advanced care, they will not behave in a patient attitude.
It is their greatest goal to keep their livestock healthy and happy to receive the most promising produce: “We as farmers treat our cattle with respect and dignity while still making a living from them”.
It’s tremendous that PETA’s efforts to destroy the abuse of animals is making a positive impact in our world today, however, their misguided attack on the dairy industry is an extremely toxic argument that will cause more damage than repair, and it’s vital that consumer power is focused away from such a virtuous and victimised trade.