PETA asks for equal time in Loyal
A national animal rights organization is asking the Loyal School District to give it time in a classroom to offer children “another perspective” on how dairy animals are treated on farms. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) contacted Loyal District Administrator Chris Lindner by letter this week requesting that it be allowed to bring its life-sized mechanical cow to the school to “give the kids a factual yet age-appropriate lesson about the production of cow’s milk.”
Lindner could not be reached for comment for this story by press time.
TeachKind -- PETA’s humane education division -- noted in its letter to Lindner that it had learned of a recent “industrybacked program” in which the district had participated, and it now wants a chance to offer a different perspective regarding on-farm animal treatment.
In a release distributed to the media, “TeachKind points out that the farm involved in the pro-dairy program admits to raising calves in hutches and feeding them pasteurized milk, which means that they are taken away from their mothers. In the dairy industry, this is common practice: Calves are separated from their mothers just days or even hours after birth and aren’t allowed to nurse during the natural lactation period. The milk intended for them is sold to humans instead.”
PETA is requesting that it be allowed to bring Carly -- a life-sized mechanical bovine voiced by actress Alicia Silverstone -- to the school for another lesson on dairying.
“Young people have a natural affinity for animals and deserve to know the truth about ways gentle cows suffer on cruel dairy farms,” said Marta Holmberg, PETA senior director of youth programs. “TeachKind urges Loyal Elementary to equip its students with facts, not fairy tales, and let them draw their own conclusions.”
PETA said it has taken Carly to schools across the country “where she’s shared the gripping story of her escape from a dairy farm and the sad fate of her beloved babies, debunked harmful dairy-industry myths, encouraged healthy eating habits, and fostered compassion and respect for animals in caring kids.”
PETA”s release states that TeachKind’s motto reads, in part, “anilams are not ours to eat.” The group opposes speciesim, “the human-supremacist worldview that cows and other animals are nothing more than commodities.”
