“It’s sick, disgusting, and just plain wrong.”

I am 15 and … became a vegan about eight months ago. I’ve always been partially lactose intolerant. … [M]y parents gave me pills for it, but [the pills] never helped. … I love animals a lot, and I started going to Web sites against animal cruelty, and then I found out what I was drinking [and] eating and what was happening to the animals. It was sickening. I started crying and finally decided [that] I was going to change. [A]fter finding out [what happens to animals], how can you eat animal products? It’s sick, disgusting, and just plain wrong. Now I’m much happier [and] healthier, and [I] am spreading the word: Veganism rules, and now I feel like I’m doing something to help the lovely animals of this world.
—Danielle L., Seattle, Washington

“Just imagine, for a second, spending your entire life standing in knee-deep shit.”

I grew up in a small … farming community. The animals on these smaller farms were generally not treated very well. This is bad because, compared to factory farms, they are treated well. I walked past one particular dairy farm almost everyday and was always unhappy to note that the cows were always standing in knee-deep shit because there wasn’t anywhere else for them to stand. You could smell this farm for miles. Just imagine, for a second, spending your entire life standing in knee-deep shit. Do people think [that cows] can’t smell? I have reached the opinion now that even if milk was good for us, I would not drink it because it is not ethical for humans to take the milk from cows (and other animals) and treat them the way [that] they do.
—Raili T., Salt Lake City, Utah

“I refuse to ignore their suffering for another moment!”

I am a 29-year-old mother of a 4-month-old, beautiful baby girl. … Breastfeeding her is an amazing bonding experience, aside from being the most healthful nourishment for her growing body. My scary dairy thought is this: How devastated I would be if, after my baby was born, she was ripped away from me, and I was chained up to a wall and hooked up to a breast pump [so that] the milk extracted from my breasts (which is meant for my baby and no one else) could be fed to some other species of animal. Periodically, I would be injected with hormones and antibiotics, and while all this happened, I would have to stand in my own urine and excrement. I would suffer enormously. This is what happens to dairy cows every day, and when I eat dairy [products], I am ignoring their suffering. I refuse to ignore their suffering for another moment! I’m dumping dairy!
—Kimmie S., Sao Paulo, Brazil

“… the machines that were hooked to them seemed to be hurting some of the cows.”

When I was about 6, in kindergarten (8 years ago), I remember our class going to a … farm. [At that time], I saw nothing wrong with eating meat or drinking milk. We went into the area where they milked the cows, [and] as we walked through, I noticed that … the machines that were hooked to them seem to be hurting some of the cows. It was like they were milking every little drop [from] them. A lot of the cows were loudly mooing and grunting, and the machines seemed to be slurping. It was last year when I realized that it was wrong, and [I] am now a vegan. I think [that] seeing this kinda thing made me who I am today, and I think that more people should be witness to this kinda thing for them to understand how wrong it is.
—Rosie H., Winters, California

“They were kicked, punched, [and] screamed at.”

My scary story started the day [that] I was hired to be a milker at a dairy. I had no idea what these poor animals endured until that day. The cows were pushed, at all costs, to produce [more] milk daily. They were kicked, punched, [and] screamed at when they did not move fast enough or when they tried to skip over a foot bath [that] they were [supposed] to walk through because their feet and legs were red, raw, bloody, and swollen from walking and standing in urine and excrement too long. … [C]ows and their young scream[ed] for each other [after being] separated. … The males were sold for veal, and the females [were] sold to other farms. These animals lead a sad, degrading life right up to the day [when] they are too sick, too old, or both to give milk, then [they’re sent] off on the meat truck and [end up on] someone’s dinner table. … This farm is now closed down, but I am sure [that] there are others just like it.
—Lisa C., Westhampton, New Jersey

“The truth has been hidden from people for far too long.”

I [drank] milk all my life until recently [when] a vegan friend of mine enlightened me [about] how milk is really produced. I used to think that cows just produced milk and that we used it because it [would otherwise go] to waste. I was not aware that most cows are artificially inseminated in “rape racks” by machines in order to impregnate them for milk and veal production. I was appalled that such a practice was common. … And I feel lied to. The truth has been hidden from people for far too long. I still long for a glass of milk, but now that my eyes have been opened, I just think to myself how odd and gross I would find it to drink elephant’s milk, and I wonder why people find cow’s milk any less disgusting and odd. …
—Kanan R., Foothill Ranch, California

“… that night, the cow kept crying.”

When I was about 9 or 10 years old, I went to one of my uncle’s farms. I saw his servants separate a very small calf from his mother. The way [that] they pulled him really made me sick. But that night, the cow kept crying. … The next morning, my uncle was scolding his servants [because] that cow was missing. So they set out to search for [her]. And the most astonishing part was where they found that cow: [She] had jumped two very high fences and [had run] the whole night, many kilometers … to reach her baby. … Everyone was shocked. … But the saddest part was that they took her [calf] away again.

It happens … everyday in India. … [E]very person who owns a cow in my country considers it his birth right to hit them and leave them on the roads to fend for themselves. … [M]any people in India own cows, as they are used for their milk and … for carrying heavy loads under absolutely horrendous conditions. … They are also transported to slaughterhouses and killed for their hides. But the most disturbing sight is when the cows’ owner[s] leave [them] on the extremely busy roads each morning to feed on [their] own and then [take them] back to … in the evening [and] beat [the cows] with a big wooden stick [that] has a 3-inch nail attached to one end. Almost all cows in India … have bruises on their backs with blood oozing out of the fresh wounds all the time. Also, all cows have their so-called “owners” names painfully [branded] on their backs.
—Monika M., New Delhi, India

“Mother cows are very loving to their babies when they are allowed to be.”

Dairy calves, particularly the bull calves, are pulled from their mothers at birth and not allowed to nurse. The colostrum is collected and later fed to the calf, creating an opportunity for bacteria to enter the calf’s system. Some dairies do not even bother to wash the buckets [that] they feed the calves from. These tiny newborns become sick with E. Coli and salmonella very easily, which also can mean illness for any human who tries to save them! Most farms do not even use bottles with nipples to feed them from, they have them drinking from buckets that [cause them to] put their heads down and leave their lungs open to fluid intake. A calf is designed to nurse from [his or her] mother, and the airway closes as the calf reaches under [his or her] mother. This doesn’t happen in a bucket! I recently visited a dairy farm and purchased a jersey bull calf for $25 in an attempt to save him, but he was too far gone. He died on our farm, even with medications and the best care [that] we could provide. At the dairy, he was standing in a wire, round pen with no shelter, in the sun, in a pool of [feces] from scours. His feed bucket was dirty and smelled of spoiled milk. Scours is caused [when] calves [are] taken from [their] mother[s] and fed large amounts of milk and [when] bacteria or viruses [are] introduced into their system [because they are] not … allowed to nurse [from] their mothers and/or … [not given] colostrum immediately following birth. Calves, with their mothers, get their milk in sterile form from the teat, in small amounts. These dairy calves suffer before they die [from] massive bouts of diarrhea, dehydration, shock, and possibly drown in fluid from pneumonia. They rarely ever get any vet care or even medication because they cannot be sold at a livestock auction[s] for 30 days if an antibiotic is administered. Bull calves are considered useless, and a vet will not be called out for their care. Mother cows are very loving to their babies when they are allowed to be. They lick them, talk to them, hide them from predators, and share their feed. Instead, these bull calves die alone, never knowing what love is. ..
—Anonymous, New Waterford, Ohio

“I can now look at them with a clear conscience.”

When I was a kid living in San Antonio, I was like a lot of kids—drinking chocolate milk, eating a bowl of cereal [or] ice cream every now and then. I never thought much about it because I was [young] … and also because [it was] what I grew up with. I wasn’t as crazy about dairy as my older sister was, but I had my fair share.

We left San Antonio when I was 9 years old to live on a ranch. I distinctly remember when I first saw a real live cow. … I asked my dad what that thing was hanging from the cow. “The udder,” he told me. I asked what an udder was, and he explained that [it] is where milk comes from. We also had chickens on the farm, and I remember having to gather eggs in the morning. The chickens always seemed very agitated that I was taking their eggs from them. Once it dawned on me exactly where the milk and the eggs came from, I was terribly grossed out by it. [W]e lived on [a small ranch]. None of the eggs were ever sold, and we never milked the cows. After living there for 4 years, I quit eating eggs and drinking milk.

After a few false starts … I have finally become vegetarian. ... It’s been a solid year now, [and] I’m working my way to being vegan. I noticed that, because I quit eating meat, I now feel more strongly connected to my pets. I can now look at them with a clear conscience.
—John M., Austin, Texas

“Joey was a beautiful creature, and they made me kill him.”

I am from a small [farming] community near Davenport, Iowa. My 4-H leader was a local butcher and kept a small slaughterhouse as part of his farm. One of our 4-H “activities,” [which] started anew every two years, was to raise—by hand, from a bottle—a young calf to maturity and then to butcher [him or her] in his “facility.” I had no idea what I was in for when I joined this sadistic, sick ritual. After seeing the first animal cruelly bludgeoned into a stupor and then hacked into pieces, I vomited and cried. I asked to be excused, but they would not let me. And then I was forced to do the same to my beloved Joey, the calf I had raised almost from birth, had grown to love, and truly felt a connection with. Joey was a beautiful creature, and they made me kill him. My parents believed [that] this would teach me to be a strong, able, pioneer-type individual. They actually expected me to eat the meat! But after being forced to participate in this monstrous action, there is no way I will ever touch meat again—or even milk. I left the community as soon as I was old enough and will have nothing further to do with any of the participants [of] this horrible practice. Thank you for allowing me to share this demonstration of the sort of things that go on in the rural communities of America. … I believe that if my story and others like it [are] brought [in]to the public eye, we will see a change of attitude toward our bovine brethren. I believe [that] PETA is on the right track.
—B. O’Leary, Social Circle, Georgia

“Knowing [that] I do not consume [animals] or take part in any animal cruelty makes me proud of myself and my choices.”

For art class, we were supposed to depict “animals doing human activities.” Boy, was everyone shocked when I drew a pig slaughtering a human. It has made many people who have viewed it [really] think. … Knowing [that] I do not consume [animals] or take part in any animal cruelty makes me proud of myself and my choices. I am currently working on informing my … peers and family members [about] the horrors of consuming animals. My parents have “gone veg” because of me. … And I continue to follow this diet for … myself and, more importantly, [for] the animals.
—Jessica A., Windsor, Canada