Feminism, Veganism, and Puppy Mills.

This week we changed our Action Project topic. We were doing our project on deforestation, but nobody in our group was very interested in the project and just wanted to work on our independent ones. We are now doing our project on pet mills and finding out their impact and presence in our community.

I think that this is a topic that interests our group more than our previous topic, and is also something that will allow us to make a change in our community.

Since doing research on this topic, we have found out that puppy mills are very present in southern ontario. I was surprised to hear this, I thought that they were a big issue in Asia but I never would have thought that animals so close to my home are crammed into dark, windowless sheds and used as slaves to breed as many litters as they can. They have never seen a human hand do anything but evil, and cringe and cower whenever humans are present. 

They suffer this reality until can they barely stand on their own legs, or cannot produce as many pups per litter as their owners require of them. When this day comes, the dog is taken out back and shot. 

Current animal rights laws can do nothing to save these dogs, only requiring that they have access to food, water, and shelter. No current laws are regulating the condition, sanitization, or treatment of these animals.

I have seen this harsh reality in the dairy industry, animals artificially inseminated (a nice term for raped) just to have their babies taken away soon after birth.

All so that people can eat the milk that belongs to that mother and her baby. 

This happens repeatedly, until the mother cow is so damaged and distraught from years of being exploited by the dairy industry, that she too cannot stand on her own legs and is sent away for slaughter. 

Or in other cases, she just can’t produce as much milk as she is expected to, and in the end suffers the same fate.

A "downed" dairy cow being dragged to slaughter.

Unlike the dogs in puppy mills, dairy cows have absolutely no laws looking out for them. The most exploited creature to walk the earth, only roaming free in a few remote villages in India, cows are not protected under ANY animal rights laws.

I see a big connection in the feminist aspect of this project and my independent project. I stand up for the mothers trapped on dairy farms every day, and this project is showing me that there are other animals whose cries are falling silent very close to my home. This project is tying the feminism and veganism in my life together, and showing me new connections that I never would have thought of before.