PETA to Call On Kraft to End Cow Mutilations

Group Will Grill Company Execs at Annual Meeting About Dairy Suppliers’ Painful Dehorning of Calves

For Immediate Release:
May 21, 2013

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Rosemont, Ill. — Kraft Foods Group’s 2013 annual meeting will include a statement and question from a representative of PETA, which owns stock in the company. PETA will call on Kraft to require that its dairy suppliers begin phasing out dehorning, a painful process in which calves have their horns gouged out or their horn tissue burned out of their heads. PETA will point out how breeding for naturally hornless, or polled, cows—which is an established industry practice—eliminates one of the most painful things done to cows on dairy farms.

When:   Wednesday, May 22, 8:30 a.m.

Where:  Hyatt Regency O’Hare, 9300 Bryn Mawr Ave., Rosemont

“Calves endure excruciating pain when their horns are gouged out or their sensitive horn tissue is burned off by dairy suppliers,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “Instead of standing idly by, Kraft should be taking action to help phase out this painful mutilation of baby cows.”

As shown in PETA’s dehorning video exposé, narrated by Academy Award nominee Casey Affleck, workers on dairy farms burn searing-hot irons into calves’ heads to destroy horn tissue or use sharp instruments or other tools to saw, gouge, or cut out the horn and sometimes the surrounding tissue. Cows struggle desperately and cry out in pain during these procedures, which are routinely performed without giving them any painkillers. By breeding for polled cattle—which causes at least half the calves to be born hornless—dairy farmers can eliminate this cruel procedure.

Kraft is the fourth-largest packaged food and beverage company in North America.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.