A BRUSH WITH DEATH: THE ADVENTURE OF A GREAT AND LUCKY MOTHER

In the wake of International Women's Day, more and more people realize that women have played an important role in society, not only in human society, but also in the whole world. Without women, life will be colorless.

Last month we made friends with two outstanding women. Though they were still very young, they had been pregnant for as much as 5 to 7 times. With their organs degenerated greatly, they couldn’t produce milk anymore.

The saddest thing is that they never had a chance to play with their children, and that the calves had never tasted one drop of their mother’s breast milk.

When facing death, they were betrayed by their most trusted people, and had to watch one of their female friends to be slaughtered in front of them.

Luckily, they had met us. Here we’d like to share their story with you. Due to the great size of the following video, your Wi-Fi connection is advised.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FalJC8PlENE

If you can't watch the video, please click here.

Yes, on this Women’s Day, our hero is COW!

Joy

Although cattle and human are two species, it is no exaggeration to call them "Mother of Human". Just ask yourself:

How many of us have relied on milk when growing up?

How many of us have drunk more cow milk than breast milk?

Joy likes to play with human beings.

From 1961 to 2016, China’s milk consummation increased 25 times. The annual milk consummation per person is now as much as 31kg. So far China is the world's largest milk importer. Experts predict that by 2050, the per capita milk consumption will increase to 82kg a year in China.

Human may be the only species that still drink milk——from other species, especially cows——after childhood.

The cartoon below drawn by our volunteer Leaf Soda is slightly different from the version in the video, yet it depicts the true life of dairy cows in the industrial farming era.

In China, most of the milk we drink comes from Holstein Cows (Dutch Cows) which originated from Holland. They are easy to be domesticated and can adapt to most regions in the world. Initially they were called Chinese Black-and-White Cows, and officially renamed as Chinese Holstein Cows in 1992. This variety is the long-term hybridization and evolution of Dutch Cows and Chinese Yellow Cows. It is the only breed of dairy cows in China. Both "Joy" and "Big Girl" belong to this category in the commercial market.

Normally people refer to them as milk cows or dairy cows, yet we seldom ask ourselves: There is no other species that specializes in milk production in the world, so why cows?

In fact, like other mammals, the Dutch cows begin lactation only after being pregnant. But because their milking ability is better than other breed, they are forced to become a tool to produce dairy products for human.

Every dairy cow spends a short life in the cruel and repeated process of insemination, pregnancy, childbirth, being separated from her babies and supplying milk to human.

So there is no less pain in a cup of milk than in a piece of meat.

Joy

Repeated pregnancy and production greatly increases the risk of their breast lesions. According to Nutrition Facts, each spoonful of milk contains 1.12 million pus cells on average! To maximize their production capacity, breeders often use agents such as antibiotics to maintain their "health" so that they can continue producing milk, but the residues of these agents will enter the milk directly.

Each cow is milked 2 to 3 times and produces 22 to 27 liters of milk every day. That is, in a short term of four years, each cow can produce 7500 to 8000 liters of milk and meet the needs of 60 persons in China!

Actually, drinking milk is not only unethical but has a great impact on the ecological environment. According to researchers in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, if China's milk consumption triples in the next 30 years, the land needed will increase by 32%, the greenhouse gas emissions from the dairy industry will increase to 35%, and the resulting nitrogen pollution will increase to 48% of all sources.

This is "Big Girl"——the other great mother we have brought back to the sanctuary. Here we'd like to thank her adopter——Qingdai and her daughter!

In fact, humans do not need drinking milk to keep healthy because it is both unnatural and wrong.

Nutrition expert Thomas Campbell in the Center for Nutrition Studies has written that according to a large scale study in Sweden, the death rate of women who drink more than 3 cups of milk per day were twice higher than those who drink less than 1 cup of milk per day. Besides, the study finds that drinking more milk can not improve people's bone health, but rather make the bones more fragile and particularly vulnerable to hip fractures.

In addition, Dr. Campbell also points out the problem of drinking milk:

1. In a multinational observational study, researchers find that prostate cancer can be linked to high dairy product intake.

2. Several observational team find that high dairy product intake is also ovarian cancer-related.

3. Milk protein can lead to Type I diabetes through molecular mimicry.

4. High dairy products intake can increase the risk of multiple sclerosis in spite of nationality or ethnicities.

5. Milk protein (casein) can increase the risk of cancer when combing with carcinogens.

6. D-galactose can cause inflammation and accelerates the ageing process.

7. High dairy product intake is related to acnes and pimples.

8. Drinking milk is related to constipation and ear inflammation.

9. Milk is the biggest allergic source in food all over the world.

10. Most people in the world are unable to digest milk because of lactose intolerance.

The calcium content (100mg/100ml) and protein content in milk are not as high as some articles boasted. In this respect, many vegetable foods could do much better. For example, soybean milk contains a similar amount of protein (3.3mg/100ml) as cow milk. And if eaten directly, the protein content of mixed bean products are even higher! Moreover, many vegetables contain more calcium than milk, particularly collard (245mg/100ml) and Chinese kale (128mg/100ml).

By reducing the purchase and consumption of milk products, and increasing the intake of different beans, nuts and grains gradually, you could be more and more agile and healthy.

We are extremely obliged to Joy's adopter Min. Thank you for all you support!

The most important thing is that as consumers, if we could be more compassionate in choosing our diet, no other cows will suffer from the same miserable experience as Joy. Maybe this is the best way to show our respect to women, to mothers and to all the creatures in the world.

Thanks to Jenny for the filming and editing and Leaf Soda for the cartoon. Thanks to all the supporters of Wuwei Sanctuary Park! It takes one a moment to save lives but a lifetime to protect them. Vegetarianism is the best way to protect all the animals and creatures.

It would be greatly appreciated if you could forward this article to more people and propagate positive energy.

Translated by Wang Zuning

Translated by Wang Zuning

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