‘They Scream for Ice Cream’: PETA ‘Cow’ Gives the Scoop on Dairy to Local Parlors
For Immediate Release:
July 8, 2024
Contact:
Reed Bolonyi 202-483-7382
Amid the dairy industry’s promotion of July as National Ice Cream Month, a flurry of new PETA ads on bike racks across the greater Milwaukee area—including many located near ice cream shops—might make consumers in “America’s Dairyland” steer clear of cow’s milk in favor of delicious vegan options. The appeals serve as a chilling reminder that in the dairy industry, newborn calves are torn away from their mothers so that the milk meant to nourish them can be sold to humans.
“Every pint of dairy ice cream is blended with the misery of a mother cow and her beloved baby, who were torn apart just so she could continue to be exploited as a milk-producing machine,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA encourages everyone to leave cows in peace this summer and beyond by cooling off with delicious vegan ice cream.”
In the dairy industry, cows are repeatedly forcibly inseminated (raped)—workers insert an arm into the cow’s rectum and a metal rod to deliver semen into her vagina. Newborn males are routinely slaughtered for veal, while female calves endure the same fate as their mothers until their bodies wear out from repeated pregnancies. Each person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals every year and reduces their own risk of suffering from cancer, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and obesity. PETA’s free vegan starter kit—and its guide to chains that offer vegan ice cream—can help anyone looking to make the switch.
PETA’s ads can be found on bike racks at E. Water Tower Road and N. Lincoln Memorial Drive, S. Second Street and W. Freshwater Way, Kenilworth Square, E. North and N. Prospect avenues, S. Fifth Street and W. National Avenue, the Milwaukee Public Museum, the Milwaukee Central Library, 470 E. Pleasant St., 544 E. Ogden Ave., and W. North Avenue and N. 64th Street.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
