The Cruellest Trick

Dear supporter,

It’s Amey here. I’m the Managing Director of Animal Equality in India.

I’m writing to you today because I want to address a common misconception people have about India.

Everyone thinks that, in India, cows are considered sacred and treated with kindness, but the truth is very different.

I can assure you that pretty much everything you’ve heard about the dairy industry – in India and the rest of the world – is false.

I started conducting investigations into the dairy industry with Animal Equality back in 2015.

But I didn’t become an investigator right away.

I started as a volunteer and one day I was asked to take part in a very challenging mission: to investigate the milk industry all over India.

It was a gigantic undertaking…consider that India is about thirteen times bigger than the UK.

Plus India is one of the largest producers and consumers of milk in the world.

No one had ever conducted such a series of investigations in my country.

For more than a year we visited farms large and small in every region, recording everything we saw.

We saw cows who were malnourished and abused in livestock markets. We saw mother cows being torn from their newborn calves. We even witnessed cows being killed while they were still pregnant.

Some cows were crammed into trucks without access to food and water for several hours. And inside the slaughterhouses, many cows were killed while fully conscious and in full view of the other cows. It would’ve been terrifying for them.

We documented all kinds of cruelty – things that will stay with me forever – but we had not yet seen the worst.

One of the most shocking moments was when a farmer showed us a ‘trick’ he used to make mother cows give milk for as long as possible.

As I’m sure you already know, a cow must give birth to a calf to produce milk – just like humans. But her calf is taken away from her so that humans can take the milk instead.

After her calf is gone, the mother will naturally stop producing milk and the cycle begins again.

But the farmer wanted as much milk as possible.

So he decided to stuff her dead calf and place his body next to her. His hope was that she’d think her calf was still alive and that she’d keep producing milk.

Here’s the photo I took:

These cows are already forced to endure so much. And in this moment, she was being abused and mocked yet again.

The farmer left the stuffed calf there for weeks, months even. All so he could take more of her milk.

I know this story may come as a shock to you, and I know you may feel helpless in the face of such cruelty.

I have felt that way in the past, too.

But then something changed…

Participating in Animal Equality’s investigations in India, I realised that we have to do something to stop this. Firstly, we need to choose plant-based alternatives to animal products.

And then we must show people the truth about the dairy industry.

The truth can be hard to face, but if no one sees the truth, how can anything change?

And I must make something clear.

This story isn’t just about India. There are animals being abused and exploited on UK dairy farms as well.

The ‘trick’ that the farmer showed me is shocking – it’s one of the worst things I’ve seen – but we are all being tricked.

Most people – in India and the UK – believe that milk production is a ‘kind’ industry compared to meat production.

Every morning I wake up with this thought in my head: I cannot accept that this lie continues.

I can no longer accept the tricks of the dairy industry, which with its false advertisements continues to present its products as harmless and cruelty-free.

Despite all the risks and all the obstacles I face, I will continue to investigate so that people in my country and around the world become aware of the cruelty that the milk industry hides.

And we are succeeding.

Animal Equality’s investigations are being shown around the world, showing that cruelty in the milk industry is happening everywhere.

And many people – people like you – are deciding to say ‘enough’ and are taking action to help animals.

Showing people the truth is the first step to helping animals.

That’s why I ask you to please support our investigators with a donation today.

There are many people in your country who don’t yet know the truth about the dairy industry. You could be the one to open their eyes.

Not only will your donation support our investigators to capture new images from factory farms; your donation will also put those images where people can see them: in newspapers, on the television and on social media.

Importantly, they’ll put the images in front of politicians who have the power to make big changes for animals. And more animals will be saved.

Now is the best time to make a donation. In fact, until 30th June – or until we reach our limit of £140,000 – a generous donor will match every donation we receive on behalf of animals!

That means you can help twice as many animals right now.

And if you make a monthly donation, your monthly donations will be matched for an entire year. That means that every month, for twelve months, the other generous donor will make the same donation as you and animals will receive double the help.

Will you make a donation today to help animals?

Thank you from the bottom of my heart,

Amey Deshmukh

Managing Director

Animal Equality India