Posted on June 15, 2018 by Compassion for All Living Beings
Let’s pause this Father’s Day and remember the Fathers of the Animal Kingdom too! For let’s face it, it takes two, a male and female, to reproduce and have babies. Whether in animal agriculture or the natural wild, Mothers cannot do it alone. So be sure to celebrate these Animal Dads!
At a minimum, even in industrial animal agriculture, the Mothers need a male sperm donor. Or, as in the case of the Seahorse, it is just the opposite! (https://youtu.be/MsHCqrrU-Gk)
In many Animal species, the male willingly looks after his family (see Animals Australia's top 5 animal fathers in 2015). In situations where the Human Animal has intervened, however, like with factory farming, the Fathers of our food have never even seen a female of their own species, nor had the opportunity to experience what a family is.
To give but one example, “When it comes to turkeys, they have been bred to have such large breasts that they cannot even mount and mate on their own. A method of artificial insemination is their sole means of reproduction. Breeding toms (male turkeys) are kept in the dark for most of their lives and milked for their semen once or twice a week.” (liberationbc.org/issuescat/factory-farming/)
There are many males in factory farming who will never have the opportunity to grow up and mature, precisely because they are male. Those who are kept to be so-called “Fathers” are sent to slaughter once their sperm count declines.
As Bruce Friedrich of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals writes: “Americans alone eat the corpses of about 10 billion land animals every year—which is neither hyperbole nor sentimentality; it’s just true. Every one of those animals was made of flesh, blood, and bone—just like us. Every one had eyes, ears, nostrils, a mouth and limbs, just like we do. They have the same five physiological senses that we do. And as Dr. Temple Grandin notes, they 'have the same core feelings people do'. And, of course, every one of those animals started with a mother and a father, just like we did.”
When it comes to Animal Awareness, we hear a lot about cruelty as it affects the Mothers; however, we do not hear much bout the Father’s side of the story. So let us pause and say "thank you" to all the Animal Fathers—and hold them in our hearts as we celebrate with our Human Fathers this weekend.
And so, I invite us all to celebrate Fathers Day this Sunday, June 15th, by leaving all Animals, and their milk, cheese, and eggs too, off our plates. We can honor the Golden Rule by considering this: Let's treat Animal Dads in agriculture the way we want our own Fathers to be treated.
Rev Ahowan ICrow of Apithan Ministries
Member of Compassion For All Living Beings CC in the URI Multi-Region
Website: www.ahowan.org
Phone: +1-480-479-2183
Facebook: Ahowan ICrow
"The Earth is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects." Thomas Berry
"Avoiding harm to all creatures...this is true knowledge. All else is ignorance." Bhagavad Gita
Here are some links with more information about animal agriculture practices and how Animal Fathers are treated.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/sonia-faruqi/factory-farms-of-the-futu_1_b_4454910.html
http://thinkdifferentlyaboutsheep.weebly.com/factory-farming-turkeys.html
http://www.all-creatures.org/articles/ar-insideaturkey.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0yPJmJ6v0M
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