Mount Pleasant Native Leads Protest of Anti-Female ‘Milk Marathon’

For Immediate Release:
November 21, 2024

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

On Saturday, November 16, Mount Pleasant native Ciara Lowe led a protest of the dairy industry-funded Every Woman’s Marathon in Savannah, Georgia, to point out the hypocrisy of a women’s race organized by the dairy industry—which systematically sexually assaults female cows and steals their newborn babies so that the milk meant to nourish them can be sold to humans. Accompanied by other women in shirts reading “Milk Marathon: Using Women to Exploit Cows,” 29-year-old Lowe delayed the race’s start by dropping “dead” in front of the starting line. Photos and video footage of the disruption are available here.

Others in the crowd unfurled a banner showing images of the abuse inflicted upon female cows in the dairy industry—including being repeatedly forcibly impregnated, having their beloved calves taken away from them, and being slaughtered once they no longer lactate. A mobile billboard circled the event, showing attendees heartbreaking footage of anguished mother cows chasing after their stolen babies.

“Manipulating women into shilling for milk is a new low, even for the dirty dairy industry, which steals calves from their distraught mothers within hours of birth,” says Lowe. “People should be running from dairy, not running for it.”

Lowe became vegan five years ago after watching the food industry documentary What the Health and learning about how meat, eggs, and dairy are detrimental to human health and devastating to the planet. She is now PETA’s Vegan Campaign Coordinator, organizing projects that include eye-catching ad campaigns, pleas to companies and public figures to leave animals off their plates, and memorials to animals killed in meat industry truck crashes. Recently, Lowe successfully pushed Delta and other U.S. airlines to add vegan coffee creamer to their in-flight beverage options.

Lowe lives in Detroit with her partner and her three-year-old rescued cat Esmerelda.

PETA notes that female cows produce milk only when they’re pregnant or nursing, for the same reason human women do—to feed their babies. Given the chance, mother cows form deep bonds with their young. 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 and they’re sent to slaughter.

Each person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals every year, dramatically shrinks their food-related carbon footprint and slashes their risk of suffering from cancer, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and obesity. PETA’s free vegan starter kit is filled with tips to help anyone looking to make the switch.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any way”—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 PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.