The Dairy Barn’s Saving Grace Could Be an Anti-Dairy PETA Ad

PETA Offers to Help Fund Historic Landmark’s Repairs in Exchange for Space for Pro-Vegan Campaign

For Immediate Release:
November 11, 2015

Contact:
Catie Cryar 202-483-7382

The historic Dairy Barn at Buhlow Lake is still hundreds of thousands of dollars away from receiving its much-needed repairs, but PETA may be able to help. In a letter sent today to the committee in charge of the landmark’s restoration, PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—offered to pitch in toward the restoration expenses in exchange for placing an ad on the barn that shows a cow’s face next to the words “My Milk Is for My Calf, Not You. Try Vegan.”

“While the Dairy Barn no longer operates as a dairy farm, millions of cows and calves around the world still endure dehorning, castration, intensive confinement, and artificial insemination,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “It’s important to preserve history to ensure that past mistakes are not repeated. Our ad will encourage visitors to make the suffering and exploitation of factory-farmed animals a thing of the past by going vegan.”

For more information, please visit PETA.org.

PETA’s letter to the Save the Dairy Barn at Buhlow Lake Committee follows.

November 11, 2015

Kendra Van Cleef
Founding Member
Save the Dairy Barn at Buhlow Lake Committee

Dear Ms. Van Cleef,

I am writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and our more than 3 million members and supporters, including thousands across Louisiana, regarding fundraising efforts to preserve the Dairy Barn at Buhlow Lake. We’d like to make a contribution toward the restoration expenses for the barn, because we believe that dairy barns will soon be a thing of the past, as more and more people switch to healthier eco- and animal-friendly soy, almond, and other plant-based milks. The suffering of cows and their calves in such places must not be forgotten. In exchange for a contribution, we would ask you to place a message on the barn encouraging visitors and passersby to think about the cows who once lived there as well as the cows who still suffer today in dairy barns.

As I’m sure you know, cows used for dairy foods are routinely mutilated without painkillers, including by having their sensitive horn tissue burned away with searing-hot irons or destroyed with caustic chemicals, which can also damage the surrounding flesh and their eyes. These intelligent, curious animals are forced to live in intensive confinement, mired in their own waste. They’re artificially inseminated, only to have their beloved calves torn away from them shortly after birth so that the milk meant for those babies can be stolen and sold. These doting mothers may cry out for days after their babies are taken. Some have even been known to try to hide their calves in a desperate attempt to stop them from being taken away.

Our ad would help preserve history while showing new generations the importance of valuing animals and not repeating the mistakes of the past.

Thank you for your consideration. We hope to hear from you soon.

Very truly yours,

Ingrid E. Newkirk
President