We are delighted that you participated in the launch of Arukah Animal International.
Please strengthen the movement and pledge to be dairy-free just one day a week.
Click on the link to sign the pledge and protect more-than-human animals. Even if you are dairy-free,
by signing the pledge, you are adding your powerful voice to our burgeoning movement.
There are approximately 270 million cows on dairy farms—the very bowels of existence—with their pervasive rot and stink of human injustice. Here the cows come to sorrow after spending their entire wretched lives in desolation. Why this abominable cruelty? Milk.
The writer Zadie Smith spoke about commitments and “that’s what forms you. What you choose to be interested in, to be attentive to and committed, that’s what you end up being.”
Go Dairy-Free
One Day A Week!
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"Obeidah the Cow"
“We had a cow, Obeidah the cow.
She had big wide eyes
but the whole herd had big wide eyes
…And whenever we took her calf away from under her
Obeidah used to shed tears like human tears
and that was the case for the rest of the cows
whenever we took their calves away from them
they cried like humans might
Obeidah used to suffer longing.
And would low a painful moo.
The whole herd could do this
and rip our heart cords apart, send us
into hiding under blankets
as if taking cover
from a night monster until daybreak.”
Ahlam Bsharat,
translated from Arabic by Fady Joudah
Be on the lookout for the latest in stunning lab-grown dairy news! The exciting industry of milk proteins, called “precision fermentation,” has no cholesterol, lactose, growth hormones, or antibiotics (but those with dairy allergies must be cautious). Check out California-based Perfect Day!
The Unholy Separation of the Doomed Mother and Baby
There are approximately 270 million cows, farmed for their milk, on dairy farms. They can only produce milk when they have given birth to a calf, and so they are condemned with thousands of other cows, to achingly tiny stalls, in ghastly, medieval conditions for hours on end. They are repeatedly and forcefully impregnated against their will or consent, to continue lactating and bearing one baby after another.
The newborn calves are seized only minutes or within 48 hours after giving birth to prevent them drinking their own mothers’ milk so it can be sold for human consumption. The mothers experience paroxysms of terrible grief, crying out for their babies in utter despair. These mothers are impregnated soon again in a tormenting cycle.
When milk production of the mothers slows, and their bodies are broken with illness and despondency, they are sent to slaughter; they are often so weak they can barely walk from the transport to the slaughterhouse.
Female calves are sentenced to the same bleak fate as their mothers, until it is their turn to be slaughtered.
Many male calves, if not killed immediately as waste, are imprisoned in tiny veal crates, their movement severely limited so their flesh remains juicy and tender.
This Dantean hell is our milk.
It is no exaggeration to say that the dairy industry is nothing but suffering and causes abysmal animal lives, as well as massive contribution to climate change, water pollution, catastrophe for biodiversity, and other calamitous health issues.
A growing body of scientific evidence links dairy consumption to an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer, diabetes, obesity, hormonal imbalances due to increased levels of estrogen found in mammal breast milk, heart disease, fractured bones, prostate cancer, acne, and skin issues. Dr. Neil Barnard, the leading physician, of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, says “removing from your life significantly reduces the risk of heart disease and diabetes and lessens the chance of being diagnosed with certain cancers by more than 70%.”
And our beloved cheese?
The writer and activist George Monbiot breaks it down this way: “We can take this chemical from a fourth stomach of a calf and mix it with milk from his own mother until it becomes this wobbly mass of fat and protein and then we inoculate that with bacteria, and the bacteria digests it until it becomes hard yellow stinky stuff made of the excrements of those bacteria. Really, you’re going to love this. So tasty. We’ll call it cheese.”
And yet there is hope! A variety of dairy-free alternatives are saving the day!
We now have a plentitude of dairy alternative choices to make and the exhilarating power to make a declaration, a fervent pledge to make a profound transformative difference. A world-changing commitment.
Please take the dairy-free pledge to choose plant-based milks and cheeses for one day a week, rather than cow’s milk, and see the momentous impact it will have on your life, the universe, and nature herself.
There is a cornucopia of delicious plant-based milks on the market, including soy, almonds, oats, coconut, peas, hemp, cashews, flax, rice, macadamia. Some of our favorite brands are Ripple, Oatly, Silk Soymilk, and Elmhurst Nut Milk. For heavenly chocolate milk, try Ripple, Silk, Oatly, and Chobani Oat-Based Chocolate Drink.
Click for more info about plant-based milks.
And try these heavenly vegan cheeses made from plant proteins like soy and nut milks, starchy flours, and root vegetables. Choose any of them to excite the senses: the divine Miyoko’s Creamery, which takes cheese to a rarified level, Kite Hill, Daiya Foods, Follow Your Heart, Treeline, Chao’s Creamery, and Violife, which is coconut oil-based and free from such allergens as nuts, soy, and gluten.
Click for More info about vegan cheeses.
Do You Have Oxalate Kidney Stones?
According to PubMed, “Oat, macadamia, rice, and soy milk compare favorably in terms of kidney stone risk factors with dairy milk, whereas almond and cashew milk have more potential stone risk factors. Coconut milk may be a favorable dairy substitute for patients with chronic kidney disease based on low potassium, sodium, and oxalate…Overall, oat milk has the most similar parameters to dairy milk (moderate calcium, potassium, and sodium with low oxalate). Rice, macadamia, and soy milk also have similar parameters to dairy milk.” Read more
“People are the only animals that drink the milk of the mother of another species. All other animals stop drinking milk altogether after weaning. It is unnatural for a dog to nurse from a mother giraffe; it is just as unnatural for a human being to drink the milk of a cow.
”Michael Klaper