‘Mutant’ Cows Suffer More

As if having to suffer through the cruelty of factory farming wasn’t enough, according to recent reports, genetically modified cows in a New Zealand experiment died last year when their oversized ovaries ruptured. The cows—who had ovaries the size of tennis balls (cows’ ovaries are usually the size of a thumbnail)—were part of an experiment that was being carried out in an attempt to create fertility treatments from the milk of genetically modified cows. Right …

Of course, the only slightly positive side to the cows’ painful death is the fact that the ethics of using genetically modified animals is (finally) being questioned. We all know that animals have an intrinsic worth beyond their utility to humans. Animals raised for food and used in experiments endure suffering that many of us could never imagine.

Genetic modification only contributes to this cruelty and is also directly related to many routine forms of cruelty that take place on factory farms, such as the practice of breeding chickens and turkeys to grow so large that they suffer from crippling leg deformities, lung collapse, and heart failure even before they arrive at the slaughterhouse.

Want to help? Take a stand against the use of animals in experiments, and don’t forget to take the Pledge to Be Veg.

Posted by Rochelle Regodon