Dairy products

Would most vegans make an exception for dairy products if they were in India. I wasn't aware until recently that in India, the cow has to be allowed feeds it calves first and only the milk left over can be taken and sold on. I met a vegan in India who was eating dairy products because he felt it okay to do so in India but said he never would at home.

Your opinions please.

 

.....i think to many people even if the cow or her calf has not been mistreated, they might still consider it exploitation and some people probably still find it unnatural becasue cows are a different species and it might be weird to them...

im still an ovo-lacto....i will prolly go vegan when i move out of my house tho...carnivorus, over-controlling parents....meh...the above is just some possibilities of what some people might think tho

 

In his autobiography, Ghandi talks about animal abuse in Indian dairy farms. I've been to India twice, and they do mistreat their cows--if not with cattle prods & cages then with neglect. An Indian dairy farmer will care for a cow until she has lost the ability to produce milk, then the farmer will dump her on the streets to starve. They call it "God's will". No Indian will deny that this happens. Spacer, I'd be interested to know how your friend responds to this.

**edit**

I found the quote from Gandhi's autobiography...

'nuff said.

 

When you consume dairy products, you are conceding that it is acceptable to exploit an animal for its milk. Not only are you contributing to the demand that cannot be met through humane means, but you are sending the message that it is acceptable to make use of another creature for your own comfort. Humans have proven over and over again that they cannot utilize the products of another species without being cruel, and that is why Vegans don't eat eggs, even if someone's pet chicken is laying them, and that is why Vegans do not consume dairy products, even if they mistakenly think that those products are produced humanely.

Also, it is a myth that all cows in India are treated humanely. India is one of the largest leather exporters in the world, and they don't wait for the animal to die of old age. They are also a major beef exporter. And India is now the world's largest dairy producer. While the majority of dairy in India is still produced on a family farm scale, "conventional" (read American agri-business) dairy farming is on the increase in India.

Think about it this way: Two different alien species comes to earth and capture a bunch of human women because these aliens have developed a taste for human milk. Alien species 1 forcefully empregnates their captive women, takes their children away at birth. The male babies are slaughtered for their tender flesh and unmarked skin, and the female babies are raised on artificial nutrients and are forcefully empregnated and milked as soon as they are old enough. Selective breeding and hormone therapy is employed to make these girls "productive" at the earliest possible age, and Alien Species 1 is thrilled when they are able to turn out a new dairy girl as early as 6 or 7 years of age. They are so aggressive in milking women, that the women develop open sores and painful mastitus which often goes untreated. These women are kept in a dirt lot and they are forced to live in their own feces and urine, which causes even more sickness and misery. Women normally live to be 70, but they are taken off and slaughtered at 35 or earlier, when they become more difficult to breed and their milk production decreases.

Alien species 2 really wants the milk, but they want to be humane. At first, they allow the women to wander with some limited freedom through the alien world, and they only milk the women after that woman is finished nursing her young. Instead of being kept in huge dirt lots, the women are kept in small family herds of 10 or 15 females. They are allowed to raise their young. However, the young are still routinely sold away from their families. The girls are generally sold to other dairies, and the boys are often sold to wholesalers who in turn sell them to leather companies and meat packers.

I think we can all agree that on the sliding Karmic scale, Alien Species 2 is less evil than Alien Species 1. But death and suffering are still side effects of the dairy industry on Planet 2, and the women are still enslaved on planet 2.

 

Wow, i never realised the whole thing could be so gruesome.

I remain forever endebted to the posters on these boards for my recent enlightenment concerning dairy products. I know it sounds insane, but i have never before realised that drinking milk that came from another animals tits was in any way unnatural!! I suppose ive been doing it for so long i became conditioned....I also never realised the extent of the cruelty involved. And so from today onwards, I shall never drink milk or eat dairy again. I better go shopping!

Thank you all and keep posting. Your comments help the stupid and the ignorant, like me, see things differently

Love-Maxi.Xx