Move To Ban "Tail Docking" In New York

Inspiring video. I BELIEVE that true vegans should also have compassion for for all living plants. I BELIEVE that vegans should only eat dirt and tree bark. I BELIEVE that true vegans allow "companions" to come and go as they wish. I BELIEVE that vegans should also have compassion for human life. I BELIVE that everyone has the right to choose what they eat. I BELIEVE that lies and malicious statements ,not be presented as facts. I BELIEVE if truly concerned, activist lead by example and spend millions of dollars to buy up the farms and use their knowledge to care for the animals. I BELIEVE that all dairy farmers should not sell any CME contracts that will place their products in large cities. So thank you for teaching me that I too can believe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNn7ZXflMzY

Also felix I keep forgetting to ask, did you have your cats de clawed cause I have two house cats and had them done and those poor cats were miserable for over a week,I felt terrible for having it done, so I hope to god you didn't mutilate your cats the way I did. Shame if you did

Not one thing you pasted has any real scientific backing. Just cause some activist web site or activist vet or activist "scientist" says it doesn't make it true.

the protein in milk-Casein contributes to all the MUCUS. call 1 888 not milk to find the truth and save your health and even save a cow as well.

Disclaimer*** FELIX IS A UNEDUCATED FOOL THAT MAKES GOOD USE OF THE COPY - PASTE FEATURE ON HIS COMPUTER. THE LINKS HE IS POSTING ARE FROM ACTIVIST THAT PROFIT FROM VEGANS AND HAVE A VERY LOOSE GRASP OF REALITY, NUTRITION AND ANIMAL WELFARE.***

Hormone in milk that makes breast cancer grow. Read Milk, the Deadly poison. Why do children grow to puberty? We are the highest nation is bone disease and breast cancer.

This is a 1998 Hard Copy Special on MILK. What the government doesn't want you to know about milk. Don't drink milk, we know it contains fat and cholesterol but did you know it contains the protein CASEIN (which is basically a glue which leads to a lot of mucous build up and other health problems like asthma and congestion), milk also contains.. powerful growth hormones, viruses, a host of deadly chemical and biological bacterial agents, bovine proteins that cause allergies, insecticides, antibiotics, all this can trigger the growth of cancer and contributes to today's problem of obese children (ever notice why young girls breasts develop faster?). Cow's milk is the number one allergic food in this country. It has been well documented as a cause in diarrhea, cramps, bloating, gas, gastrointestinal bleeding, iron-deficiency anemia, skin rashes, atherosclerosis, and acne. It is the primary cause of recurrent ear infections in children. It has also been linked to insulin dependent diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, infertility, and leukemia. Milk and refined sugar make two of the largest contributions to food induced ill health in our country.

Milk is poison

MILK is a deadly poison. Each sip contains growth hormones, fat, cholesterol, allergenic proteins, blood, pus, antibiotic, bacteria and virus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYpafipJyDE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy0511sG1Ts&feature=player_embedded

Dairy cow abuse.... Just for the sake of a pint of milk

Thousands of calves are taken from their mothers within hours of being born. The separation of dairy cows and their newborn calves is very traumatic for both. Desperate cows can bellow for days in the hope of being reunited with their babies.

Female calves are kept for the dairy industry, she will be inseminated at 15 months to start her gruelling life as a milk machine. The poor bullcalves are just byproducts of milk production. Many are shot at birth.

Many calves die, but most will go to markets where they are abused and cruelly treated, prodded with sticks to make them walk around the ring, so young, sometimes just days old, they can barely walk properly.

His mother will be put in calf again within three months. She is pregnant for 9 months again. This will continue until she is about 4 or 5 then she will be sent to the slaughterhouse. Hundreds of dairy cows like her will be sent to slaughter in calf, they are cut from their bodies, and used in byproducts in food. By the end of her short life, she will be physically exhausted. She would have developed lameness from the extreme weight of her udders, and mastitis, ulcers on her legs, from the size of her udders. She will spend seven months inside on hard concrete floors, causing very painful foot sores. Happy healthy cows can have a long life of around 25 years, hers is cut short in just 4 or 5.

Throughout her cruel and overworked life, she would never get to love just one of the calves she gave a life to.. They were torn away, sent to market, and exported in horrendous conditions with no food or water for hours on end to Europe, to be put into wooden crates, a solitary confinement.. only wide enough to stand and lie down. This prevents muscle from developing, keeping their young flesh tender ready for the dining table. This is their home until they are between 16 and 20 weeks old, still babies, they will be slaughtered by being hung up, and having their throats cut.

The sawed-off legs of cows are collected in barrels-they will later be rendered into fertilizer, dog and cat food, or feed for pigs and chickens in factory farms.

If you are like me and love and respect animals, please show compassion for these very badly treated animals and their young. Please remember when you drink milk, what misery and pain it took to get there, and the calves who suffer trauma, cruelty, confinement, all without the love and comfort, they were deprived of from their mothers. And finally the tragic end to their lives

Disclaimer*** FELIX IS A UNEDUCATED FOOL THAT MAKES GOOD USE OF THE COPY - PASTE FEATURE ON HIS COMPUTER. THE LINKS HE IS POSTING ARE FROM ACTIVIST THAT PROFIT FROM VEGANS AND HAVE A VERY LOOSE GRASP OF REALITY, NUTRITION AND ANIMAL WELFARE.***

The gruelling lives of dairy cows

Dairy cows are the hardest worked farm animals. and mothers. The only reason they produce milk is to feed their calves... but we steal their milk and deprive their calves of the love and affection, security that is their right as living, breathing creatures. They suffer abuse, neglect, illness. Seperation from all the calves they give birth to. Dairy cows living in a happy healthy environment can live for up to 25 years. But because of their hard lives, they are worn out by 4 or 5 years old. They will be sent to slaughter, where many cannot even stand up anymore. They are filled with fear, as they smell the blood of others who have had their throats cut, and struggle to escape when they hear the cries of the other cows. An absolute gruelling life and gruelling death, all inhumane and cruel. Cows are sensitive, and are sentient creatures, they deserve respect and compassion.

These farm animals are the forgotten ones, i feel so hurt that there is no human compassion for them, and it is taken for granted they are just milk machines.

They feel love, fear, comfort, and grief. As we do.

Disclaimer*** FELIX IS A UNEDUCATED FOOL THAT MAKES GOOD USE OF THE COPY - PASTE FEATURE ON HIS COMPUTER. THE LINKS HE IS POSTING ARE FROM ACTIVIST THAT PROFIT FROM VEGANS AND HAVE A VERY LOOSE GRASP OF REALITY, NUTRITION AND ANIMAL WELFARE.***

Wow , way to use your copy and paste. And I milk 100 cows is that to many or should I kill a few , and fyi my somatic cell count averages 150,000.(Do you need that explained or does hsus have whether that's good on their site along with your last comment)

After a restless night of sleep, just trying to figure out why most of you are such idiots, meaning I thought I laid out the reasons why we separate calves from their dams, after all I didn't think dying from being trampled or a slow agonizing death from things like johne's,salmonella,e-coli,staph aureus wouldn't be cruel, but they still don't understand. Then it hit me these people are not crazy at all, perhaps very intelligent (this does not apply to Felix, which is a complete moron and should be put on a island and forced to fend for himself) mdow ,however is probably very intelligent and well educated to the point that he lacks common sense. I have often argued the point that ALL college graduates be required a credit in some sort of animal food science and food science, cause most groups of activist are from cites and so far removed from agriculture they can not understand it and the smart ones feel they do understand it.Believe it or not everyone of you have ancestors that milked, killed,and ate cows.please do yourself, me, and the people that have to listen to you a favor and study up on modern day agriculture,no I don't mean biased web sites, there are all kinds of dairy information throughout the Internet and not activist on our side either but, magazines and publications that we read. I think you will find one prominent phrase which is cow comfort.

Dairy Cows

Traditional small dairies, located primarily in the northeast and midwest are going out of business. They are being replaced by intensive 'dry lot' dairies which are typically located in the southwest.

Regardless of where they live, however, all dairy cows must give birth in order to begin producing milk. Today, dairy cows are forced to have a calf every year. Like human beings, the cow's gestation period is nine months long, and so giving birth every twelve months is physically demanding. The cows are also forced to give milk during seven months of their nine month pregnancy. In a healthy environment, cows would live in excess of 25 years, but on modern dairies, they are slaughtered after just 3 or 4 years and then used for ground beef.

With genetic manipulation and intensive production technologies, it is common for modern dairy cows to produce 100 pounds of milk a day -- ten times more than they would produce in nature. The cows' bodies are under constant stress and they are at risk for numerous health problems.

Approximately half of the country's dairy cows suffer from mastitis, a bacterial infection of their udders. This is such a common and costly ailment that a dairy industry group, the National Mastitis Council, was formed specifically to combat the disease. Other diseases, such as Bovine Leukemia Virus, Bovine Immunodeficiency Virus, and Johne's disease (whose human counterpart is Crohn's disease), are also rampant on modern dairies, but they are difficult to detect or have a long incubation period, and they commonly go unnoticed.

A cow eating a normal grass diet could not produce milk at the abnormal levels expected on modern dairies, and so today's dairy cows must be given high energy feeds. The unnaturally rich diet causes metabolic disorders including ketosis, which can be fatal, and laminitis, which causes lameness.

Another dairy industry disease caused by intensive milk production is "Milk Fever". This ailment is caused by calcium deficiency, and it occurs when milk secretion uses calcium faster than it can be replenished in the blood.

Although the dairy industry is familiar with the cows' health problems and suffering associated with intensive milk production, it continues to subject cows to even worse abuses in the name of increased profit. Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH), a synthetic hormone, is now being injected into cows to get them to produce even more milk. Besides adversely affecting the cows' health, BGH also increases birth defects in t

Stop mutilating baby boys with circumcision!

"Oh there you go again".

Any one that eats cow is a no how.

So does anyone want to make a bet on how many people googled ridgeside ?

My farm is in central pa feel free to look me up I would so love to give you a personal education and as for this nonsense about pushing cows to milk unnatural amounts, a high milking cow is nothing less than a very happy healthy animal, any thing else and they would not be high producers. A high milking cow is like a marathon runner they are very well maintained . A sick or abused cow will not produce a lot of milk, the same way a cancer patient or crack head will not run a marathon.

And cat man stop selling that ridiculous web site of yours. I told you before to prove me wrong about the benefits of dairy! what did I strike a nerve with my soybean joke?

Commoditization ? Did you make this up , my spell checker never even heard of it. And his name was gregorya butler you douche bag you can reference his name, and besides he is 100% right! If you think cows having a choice of any number of Sand laden stalls to choose in which they can come and go as they please, plenty of clean water , a perfect diet of feed always available, fans spaced every 15 feet apart throughout the barn, a completely automated sprinkling system to cool them in the summer curtain side walls for the blustery winter days, rubber flooring in locations where they stand a lot, a four camera cctv system with a monitor at my bedside so I can monitor the prisoner , sorry I mean cows. Should I continue or are we still a bunch of cruel hearted bastards?

That the word "commoditization" would trouble you and your little spell-checker kind of tells the whole story, doesn't it? Yes, moron, it's a word. I'll try not to use many polysyllabic words, as I wouldn't want your head to explode.

Academic and government researchers, in different countries doing independent studies, have found no measurable benefit to tail docking. It's cruel, unnecessary, and of no benefit to anyone, so why do it? I realize I ask this of someone who believes separating the calf from its mother is doing the right thing, so I don't expect a reasoned, logical response, but still. Cows love confinement. Left to their own devices, cows build their own tiny stalls to stand in all day without room to move, or they naturally wander away from pasture and into the overcrowded feedlot pens, because that's what they want. Also, left to their own devices, cows eat corn instead of grass, and they eat lots of antibiotics; it's a wonderful coincidence that the most widely used industrial farming practices do these exact same things. Cow mothers abandon their calves when given the choice, too, don't they? Fantastic.

Boo hoo hoo, mdow called me stupid and dumb!! I am so sorry I cant keep up with your stunt brain but of course I'm not a winy little activist.I actually work for a living , not standing on my head and telling everyone else their upside down. Several years ago the AVMA did a research study in the west on dry lots, not in the east and concluded that tail docking had no benefit to cows, However dry lots in the west is a whole lot different than the barns that are needed in the east. I know you might not understand this but try to keep up. You see cows don't enjoy standing in the 80 degree sun or a heavy rain storm or a frosty below freezing day, which is why we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on those tourture chambers we call free stall barns. On dry lots they are basically big lots of dirt that are placed in warm dry climate,There cows would have no muddy conditions for tails to become a problem. In the east our barns create a problem, cause their tails lay in the manure and they then swat them over their backs covering them with manure.Can you guess what happens next? flies come in and annoy the hell out of the cows, and if you remember my last lesson, A unhappy cow is a low producing cow. About fifteen years ago I used to pasture my cows, I had to stop cause on one wet year I had to cull a bunch of cows cause , well you may not know this but 90% of the time cows go out to the end of a pasture kind of graze around a little but usually they end up at the beginning of the pasture laying in the muddiest spots, if you don't believe jump in your prius and go look around. Anyway a lot of cows got mastitis, had cuts on their legs from the stones in the mud, two had broken legs , I would have to check my records for the rest.So I decided to build a barn for the sake of the cows and wouldn't change a thing . Herd health problems was drastically reduced , production went up and my cull rate was cut in half.You don't have to believe me drive around, farms are not hidden evil places stop in and talk to farmers but leave your camera, and your snippy little attitude in the car cause you may get shot, but other than that we don't bite.You can stop at my place anytime I have nothing to hide, I'm proud of my cows , proud of my farm and proud of the quality of my milk. Lets face it you will never stop agriculture,and to try is just crazy, food is a needed and there is no way to produce enough fruit,vegetables and grains to feed the world (especially organically). If you truly have a genuine love of animals, guess what so do 99% of farmers, there are bad apples in any business. If you think we are all in it for the money, your wrong, I personally lost over $100,000 dollars in 2009. So why do we do it , cause its a way of life, we do have a genuine love of the animals and is a necessity.

where is this supposed farm?

Basically, all this video proves is that one particular dairy farm was poorly run and had subpar conditions.

That is a damning indictment of that particular dairy farm and it's management but says absolutely nothing about the dairy industry as a whole.

Hello, person whose name is in all caps and doesn't have a proper understanding of contractions, this is standard practice for the dairy industry as a whole. Anyone who has taken the time to look into this knows that the commoditization of animals has led them to be mistreated (imagine the goal of profit maximization removing ethics, just try to imagine). It's not that hard to take the time to learn about what you're talking about, but you seem to have difficulty even grasping the concept of respect for living things (or for apostrophes, but I digress), so I wouldn't expect much from you, really. I'd just say that maybe this isn't the topic on which you should comment.

I must admit when I wrote the last comments I had not seen the video yet cause I was using my blackberry and mixing feed for my cows. I just got done milking and happily no cows got injured.I finished watching this extremely scripted video and would like to comment on some things.

First is the dehorning, it is a necessity to do this cause cows with horns can be gourd and severely injure by other cows and yes it looks cruel but try to imagine if you were walking down the street and a large man grabs you from behind , puts a halter around your head and ties you to a dumpster, you are going to freak out also. Calves don't like being tied up but it has to be done and burning is a humane way to do it cause you are in fact cauterizing the nerves and in a couple of seconds they will no longer have feelings in that area.

Second - The open sores. I imagine this farm is quite large with thousands of cows so put together a group of women (the same number as this farm has cows) and see how many of them have sores, injuries and all sorts of ailments.

Third - uterine prolapse. First of all that's not a uterus prolapse it is a vagina prolapse, a cow with a prolapsed uterus would be lucky to survive a couple of hours let alone two weeks.A vagina prolapse is when the muscle that hold it in tear or week en and it pushes out when she lays down and when she stands it will usually fall back in after she stands , but there is no fix for this, well you could take her to physical therapy and teach her to do kegel exercises, but don't think she will understand.

The downers - Well you see years ago when we had injured cows we would have them butchered with in hours of the injury but then came all the bunny huggers out of their earth-ships and put a stop to it, so the only option is to try and doctor them as much as we can to try to get something out of them. I know you don't understand this but this is a business and a cow going to slaughter is valued between $500-$1400 so if we cant sell them we need to try to fix them witch rarely works,so once again activist caused more pain and suffering to what they claim to protect.

Calves separated from their mothers - This is done to protect the calves and the cows , cows will often step on their calves and sometimes kill their calves,also it is not good for the calves or the cows for the calves to nurse from the cows, this can cause the cow to get mastitis and can cause give the calves a bacteria infection that can harm the calves immediately or they can carry a disease and infect other cows later in life, and remember these are animals of course they will instinctively be mad when you take away there calf but will forget about it by the next day.

And lastly I want to talk about the idiot that was being recorded, how can I defend him, well I can't lets just says the world is full of all kinds and some aren't as smart as others, however I am fairly certain he has no management say at this farm, just some dumb kid that works there and let some coward who tauted him and video taped him being stupid. As for the coward behind the camera , why did you not immediately help those poor abused and suffering animals, you just sat there secretly taping selected things to make things appear worse than really are.If I ran the world he would be sent to prison for many years.

So I hoped if you read this I may have taught you something about dairy cows but I'm sure your mind is racing to try and spin this a different way. So all you vegans enjoy your killing more vegetables for dinner but I'm eating beef as is 90% of the rest of the world , and if I come across a bunny on my way home I will give it a kick in the name of Peta. THANKS

Thank you for sharing your expertise on dairy farming with us - it's nice to hear somebody who actually knows what they're talking about on an "animal rights" discussion thread!

because he abuses cows, he knows about cows? WTH? He knows how to maximize his output on their suffering. Anyhow, if you don't care about cows then do you care about yourself. Milk is literally POISON. www.notmilk.com

Thank you, kind sir, for your revealing comments. I have no doubt that others of gothamist’s audience are also in awe of your mental capacity and all-inclusive experience.

There was a statement made by a particular American which may be clarifying for you. Perhaps you have heard of the gentleman? Or possibly made use of one of his inventions? At any rate, I hope you can comprehend, oh sorry, I meant enjoy…

"Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages." — Thomas Edison

P.S. - I have yet to refer to PETA in any of my comments.

WOW, you sound so very intellectual and wise far suppier than I, however there is just one problem , I being a dumb stupid dairy farmer and yet know a hell of alot more about animals then you ever will. So what does that say about you ? Something that really bugs me about you, how exactly did you come up with the name animal saver, how do you save animals? Do you work with animals, or do you have a special little dog or cat that you rescued or are you like most activist that are just bad people that find a cause to make yourself feel like a good person? Never the less you are still a very ignorant person. And just in case you missed my comment about the bears start protesting them first and let the grownups take care of feeding the world.

video don't lie and milk is poison for humans. www.notmilk.com

come on man that video was so cut up it probably had a Hollywood budget! And you show me a legitimate study that is not performed by or have NO activist interest that says that milk is anything but a wholesome product. You wont find one! In you "research" did you find any studies that show that soybeans have a very high estrogen level? No wonder you vegans are so sexually confused. By the way whats up with all the references from people like,John Mayer, Peter Singer What the hell do these dopes know about cows or any animals, animal lover even referenced Thomas Edison I don't think he has a knife in this fight, so try to stay relevant.

Why don't you activist protest bears killing fish and other animals, they are surrounded by vegetation, so go protest them of course they will just mull ya much like most people should that have to listen to your rubbish

Animal saver you are a dunce and don't have a clue where your food comes from and how its made. How would you like to lay your arm on the muddy ground and than swat it across your chest, it wouldn't feel too good but the flies would be all over you. I have been docking tails for 15 years and will continue to do it until I retire because I know its the best thing for the cow and if you can't wrap your brain around that its because you have no concept

Of how a farm works. I have never had one get infected or show any type of discomfort(by the way I use bands but sure you don't need that explained mr. Smarty pants). Well I have to go to work and finish feeding my cows but I guess you don't think we feed our cows,just come outside once a day beat them with a stick then go to are money tree and shake out a paycheck. Get off your computer and learn how a dairy actually works not what peta tells you!

I'm all for the ban on docking (most farms don't do it anyway because the benefits are pretty minimal compared to something like dehorning), but wow that video is over the top. Someone needs to make a similar one of soy bean production - I'm sure plenty of animals get maimed and chewed up by combines, and that narrator could make it sound like a holocaust. The only acceptable sustenance will be hand picked grains and vegetables.

But wait, plants go to great and amazing lengths to avoid being killed - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_defense_against_herbivory - I'm sure some sort of Peter Singer type can come up with an argument as to how plants are sentient beings.

The only place you are going to be able to achieve the ideals of a Disney film is by living in a Disney film. The next best thing is living in the city as removed from agriculture and the natural world as possible.

Thank you, solidago, for recognizing the illogical cruelty of docking tails.

Regarding the eating of plants, many others have made a similar observation over time. One of the organizations that I belong to has answered that question. Following is copied directly from their website; I think it will satisfy your query. http://www.upc-online.org/ethics_questions.html

What about plants? Don’t plants have feelings too?

It is very possible that plants have sensitivities that we do not yet understand. Because plants do not have nervous systems and cannot run away from predators, it has generally been assumed that they do not experience pain and suffering. Recent scientific evidence suggests that this assumption may be incorrect. However, we do know that birds and other nonhuman vertebrates have well- developed nervous systems and pain receptors the same as humans. Like us, they show pleasure and pain and they present comparable evidence of fear and well-being. Animals cry out in pain, they nurse wounded body parts, and they seek to avoid those who have hurt them in the past.

In order to live, one has to eat. However, when we eat animal products, we consume many more plants indirectly than if we ate those plants directly, because the animals we eat are fed huge quantities of grasses, grains, and seeds to be converted into meat, milk, and eggs. As a vegan (one who eats no animal products) you cause fewer beings to suffer and die for you.

Tail docking was the least disturbing thing I saw in that video.

Also, the guy who bragged about beating cows up sounded suspiciously like Gary the Retard.

Those "happy cows" in the commercials are all LIES and Fraudulent and yet the Govt and media permits such false advertisements.

I totally agree, felixthecat!

The California Happy Cow commercials have nauseated me from the start. American dairy cows are far from content, much less HAPPY. And DO NOT live in the sunny, green, idyllic settings implied. In doing some searching yesterday, in fact, I learned the commercials are FILMED IN NEW ZEALAND.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/media/its-udderly-silly-californias-happy-cow-ads-will-be-filmed/19239797/

As John Mayer says - "...when they own the information ohhh, they can bend it all they want."

as much fun as it might seem to you and me, i bet it IS a lot of work for elmer to fill up all those bottles. yet everytime i see him he is still smiling...

Yea lets ban anthropomorphism in media because its fraudulent, people must know!

it isn't anthropomorphism but FRAUDULENT to have ads of happy cows grazing freely with their young when they never do see the outside and their young are pulled away from them. This video which you probably didn't even watch is the reality of the dairy cow's miserable fate.

sad.

Docking is used to prevent flystrike. This has been done for centuries.

So had crucifixion and burning at the stake, but that did not make it right.

What the facts say are this: humans have no logical or spiritual right to cause pain and agony in any body for any reason; just because you cannot speak their language does not lessen their anguish. And more than ever we need to disallow such treatment as industry standard, regardless how long it has been practiced, particularly as the primary objective is financial gain.

"All the arguments to prove man's superiority cannot shatter this hard fact: in suffering the animals are our equals." — Peter Singer

9 out of 10 cows prefer tail docking to dingle berries.

Dairy is for calf not humans. It is cruel and unhealthy.

http://www.notmilk.com/

http://thebabybond.com/MilkingYourBones.html

For this reason, Americans have among the highest osteoporosis rates in the world, while their dairy intake is also among the highest. Doubled animal protein causes 50 percent more calcium loss. Yet, when a high protein intake is soy-based, a positive calcium balance can be maintained with only 450 mg of calcium per day.12

I don't tell you how to eat, so don't spew your agenda on me. You probably have more important things to do, but are to screwed up to know it. Also, get your facts straight. The calcium and protein absorption from milk is far greater than your soyjuice(don't call it milk). Do your research, moron.

i think if we have standards on calling stuff 'organic' there should be rules against calling soy juice as being 'milk'. just because it LOOKS like milk doesn't mean it IS milk.

Lewis Black: 'I know there's no such thing as soy milk...because there's no soy tit.'

No one hates PETA activists more than me, but this is just senseless. The industry will argue this prevents the animals from hurting themselves or biting them off each other while in captivity, which could be true, but if it is, it would seem we should look for a more humane way to confine them.

Hopefully the bill includes pigs as well, as this practice is common there, too.

will it also include jack russels, bouvier des flanders, australian shepherds, rottweilers, king charles spaniels, corgis, toy poodles, yorkies, neopolitan mastiffs et al?

Most people are not aware of the fact that when a dog’s tail is docked, it is typically when they are only 1 - 2 DAYS old, and is usually done by a vet with a pair of scissors. As the puppies are far too young for sedation, there are no anesthetics used either. Just as with cattle, unless the circumstances dictate that it is medically necessary, it is absolutely not just to remove an animal’s appendage.

The American Veterinary Medical Association opposes the docking of dogs tails as well as the cropping of ears. “The AVMA opposes ear cropping and tail docking of dogs when done solely for cosmetic purposes. The AVMA encourages the elimination of ear cropping and tail docking from breed standards.”

“Tail docking of dogs, with some exceptions for working breeds, is banned in the United Kingdom, as is ear cropping. Australia and much of Europe prohibit both procedures.”

http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/dec08/081215c.asp

And Banfield, The Pet Hospital in Portland, Oregon, discontinued docking and cropping in July of 2009.

PORTLAND, Ore. – July 27, 2009 – Banfield, The Pet Hospital®, a leading veterinary practice known for its focus on preventive care and experienced-based medicine, is no longer offering cosmetic tail docking or ear croping procedures in its hospitals. Devocalization has also been discontinued. These decisions were made with the overall health and wellness of Pets in mind. The change in medical protocol was approved through Banfield’s Medical Standards Board, an internal panel of experienced veterinarians responsible for evaluating all medical standards and procedures.

“After thoughtful consideration and reviewing medical research, we have determined it is in the best interest of the Pets we treat, as well as the overall practice, to discontinue performing these unnecessary cosmetic procedures,” said Karen Faunt, DVM, MS, DACVIM, vice president for medical quality advancement for Banfield, The Pet Hospital. “It is our hope that this new medical protocol will help reduce, and eventually eliminate, these cosmetic procedures altogether.”

http://www.banfield.net/r/banfield--the-pet-hospital--discontinues-

If even the learned professionals in the field are against it, and other countries have banned it for CENTURIES, why continue with such an outdated, excruciating, pointless procedure? It certainly isn’t PRETTY!

(welcome to my spelling nightmare)

i eat meat, but i don't eat beef. and strangely enough, i began to feel better.

i've substituted beef with lamb. lamb took me a couple of weeks to get used to.

and i don't even think of eating beef nowadays. at all.

Do your research on the lamb you are eating. They are mostly raised on ships from New Zealand. Sorry to rain on your parade. Now find something else to eat

What an Idiot to create a new login to post such an ignorant remark. What part don't you understand?

Americans have among the highest osteoporosis rates in the world, while their dairy intake is also among the highest

Just a couple of days ago I ate a New York Strip Steak, RARE with a glass of Merlot. Then I farted up a level 5 storm. The day after I took a giant 5 alarm dump. Needless to say, I enjoyed it immensely and will do it again, even if it cuts short my lifespan.

Who wants to live forever anyway? Its how you live that counts.

comment of the week. laughed so hard, secretary asked wtf?

I stopped eating meat over 10 years ago. Since then, I haven't had so much as a cold.

That being said, the conditions for any animal associated with the commercial meat industry are absolutely horrific, and while disgusted about this article I am not shocked. I urge anyone interested in a day out of the city to visit the Castskill Animal Sanctuary. Great for kids too.

http://www.casanctuary.org/

if you're implying that eating meat makes you more susceptible to colds, i call shenanigans.

be a veg, great. but don't be a snakeoil salesman.

You can call shenanigans, but it is what it is.

And as a veg, I would never sell you snakeskin oil. Tofu oil, maybe.

I eat meat, and I haven't never missed a day of work because I was sick in 15 years.

So, my anecdotal evidence has lasted even longer than yours!