Kinship Circle Letter Campaigns & Animal Rights Activism

by Brenda Shoss

Violence For Dinner

Veal Parmesan. My mom made it and we ate it. For tongues weary of macaroni and cheese, the savory meat dressed in rich sauce was an opulent treat. Veal night promised a dab of grandeur and we hailed our good fortune with swiftly cleaned plates.

People purchase veal as cutlets, scaloppini or Wiener schnitzel--with limited knowledge about how it got to their platters. Veal is a violent byproduct of the U.S. dairy industry. On factory farms, heifers are immobilized in steel stalls and continually impregnated to amplify milk output. Nearly one million unwanted male calves are abducted from mothers moments after birth to be slaughtered for veal at 20 weeks of age.

"Mary remembers when as a little girl being taken to a farm for a summer vacation," Frank L. Hoffman writes about his wife in Veal Production: Is It The Result Of Kidnapping And Murder? "One day they killed a calf...nearly sixty years later, she can still hear the terrible mourning cries of the calf's mother." When I look at veal today, I see a grieving mother and her scared child.

Calves farmed for beef nurse for almost six months. Veal calves are denied colostrum, the initial mother's milk designed to fortify their delicate immune systems. Before they can stand, they are chained by the neck inside two-feet-wide wooden crates with no straw bedding. From birth to death, they stand upon slat floors unable to shift positions, flex their legs or lie down with ease.

Most crated babies are crippled with leg and joint disorders. They are fed liquids intentionally meager in iron and fiber to suppress muscle growth and invoke anemia. This produces the white, tender meat called "fancy," "milk-fed," or "formula-fed" veal. Without roughage or exercise, the calves mature with inept motor skills, abnormal gut development and chronic stomach ulcers. One USDA subsidized review disclosed that "stall and pen calves required approximately five times the amount of medication as hutch and yard calves." Consequently, veal contains excessive traces of antibiotics that may threaten human health. "I would not serve anything to my customers I would not eat myself," states Park Avenue Cafe´ chef Neil Murphy. "And I would not eat meat that came from a sick animal."

Cattle are sociable animals who graze in herds to obtain fibrous food. Veal calves are denied all natural behaviors. As documented in The Welfare of Calves in Veal Production, a summary of scientific evidence compiled by Farm Sanctuary, confined calves experience anxiety, food rejections, stress, lethargy, social withdrawal and aberrant coping mechanisms. They obsessively toss and shake their heads, kick, scratch and chew.

Though I'd read about the industry and viewed many photos, nothing prepared me for an accidental tour of a veal operation. Inside the sunless warehouse, I saw boxed animals rise upon rubbery legs. Some quickly collapsed. Others lay motionless on their sides. Most appeared caught in a listless haze. Wanting to comfort them, I edged close enough to the crates to feel their light, warm breath against my skin. But their fate was sealed. I could do little more than document their distress.

In response to animal welfare issues, the European Union now prohibits crates and an anemic diet. American veal consumption has dropped considerably. In 2000 a Zogby International poll of 1264 adults showed 60% of those surveyed consumed no veal. And Bill H.R. 4415, introduced by Representative Gary Ackerman (D-NY), seeks to outlaw the tethering of calves in tiny enclosures and to ensure an iron-rich diet with sufficient digestible fiber.

My husband and I recently dined at a posh St. Louis eatery. Dismayed to find veal on the menu, I left a discreet card asking the manager to omit this inhumane and unhealthy entree. Much to my surprise, our waiter followed us into the lobby to obtain more "Please Say No To Veal" cards. Apparently he and fellow servers hoped to convince their employers as well.

Veal continues to vanish from the plates of conscientious consumers who realize: No meal warrants such cruelty.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1.) Please don't buy veal. Educate others about this abusive industry and encourage restaurants to remove veal items. For educational literature, contact Farm Sanctuary:
ph: 607-583-2225; fax: 607-583-2041
http://www.farmsanctuary.org

2.) Ask your Senators and Representatives to cosponsor the Federal Veal Bill, H.R. 4415. To contact them via letter, fax or email, go to:
http://www.vote-smart.org/index.htm
Enter your Senators' and Representative's names to obtain their in-state addresses.

To reprint this article in your publication, web site or list, please request author permission: info@kinshipcircle.org

Kinship Circle’s column runs bimonthly in The Healthy Planet. Ms. Shoss is also a contributing writer for The Animals Voice, Satya Magazine, VegNews, and other publications. If you would like to reprint this column, please request author permission at info@kinshipcircle.org

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