Media Releases

For Immediate Release – 21st March 2006

Campaign Reveals Britain’s Hardest Working Mother

There’ll be no flowers or chocolates for Britain’s hardest working mother this Mother’s Day, and she’ll never get to see any of her babies grow up. After a nine month pregnancy, she’ll have just a few precious hours with her newborn before it is whisked away – never to be seen again. As a final insult, her breastmilk – meant to nourish her baby – is stolen and sold. This is the agonising fate faced by two million dairy cows in Britain every year.

This is the message that Viva! – Britain’s leading animal campaigns group – will be bringing to high streets this Saturday in a National Day of Action. With over 200 demonstrations across the UK, local campaigners will help dispel the myth of contentment and reveal how the dairy cow is actually the hardest worked of all farmed animals – nurturing a growing baby inside her while simultaneously producing up to 120 pints of milk a day. And to keep that milk flowing she must give birth to a calf every year, suffering the repeated emotional trauma of having her newborn torn away.

The mental anguish of losing her baby may wane with time but a dairy cow’s physical suffering is constant. The huge volume of milk she is forced to produce leaves little energy for other bodily functions. The result is emaciation and relentless hunger. The enormous strain on her udder leaves her prone to recurrent bouts of mastitis – an excruciatingly infection of the udder. The crushing weight of her huge and pendulous udder can cripple her hind legs, making the twice daily journey to the milking chamber an agonising trek.

“It is the height of hypocrisy that while the nation pays homage to motherly love and affection on Mother’s Day, in the same 24 hours over 5000 dairy cows will suffer the heartbreak of losing their babies – a sorrow they must endure three or four times in their unnaturally short lives,” says Viva! campaigner Toni Vernelli. “Anyone who has ever known the pleasure and pride of parenthood must empathise with these mothers, and there is only one solution – leaving their milk for their calves!”

Viva!’s new leaflet dedicated to Britain’s Hardest Working Mother can be viewed and downloaded at: http://www.viva.org.uk/pdfs/mothersday_dl.pdf

For more information on demonstrations in your area contact Toni Vernelli on
0117 944 1000 or 0797 069 0468.