A vegan told me that Cows have feelings, and they mourn when there calf's are taken away?

Question

I met someone who was a vegan at a party last night, and she took it opon herself to lecture me about how if i eat meat, i am an awful person. I have many vegan friends and i respect there lifestyle, i just dont like people to force there beliefs on me, especially at a party from a very LONG WEEK at work.

anyway she tried to explain to me that cows go through a period of mourning after they give birth and there clafs are taken away? is this true? and if it is true can anyone give me a link where i can read up more on this?

Answer 1

All animals bond with their own and protect their youngs check national goegraphique

Answer 2

It is true in all animals that the instinct to mate and care for young

is strong. Almost all animal mothers will mourn the loss of their young, but to associate human feelings with animals is wrong.

Once the calf is weaned, and able to function on it's own, the mother cow no longer cares for it like she did when it was young.

It's more about survival of the species than it is about "loving" or other some such thing.

Answer 3

Of course cows mourn when their babies are taken from them.  All mammalian mothers are designed by nature to nurse and bond with their young.  A cow gestates for the same nine months that a human mother does.  How would YOU feel if you gave birth and your baby was taken from you within its first 24 hours on the planet?  If you have dogs or cats, you know that animals experience emotions like joy, fear, loneliness, excitement, etc...  I get that people don't equate cows with humans exactly, but why would you presume that a cow should be so very different from a dog?

Answer 4

I understand how you feel...she was just telling you the truth even though it may have irritated you, but in fact at least you got the message. If you don't mind me sharing with you about the danger of global warming which its impact is getting more obvious now, the quickest solution to stop killing animals for food. This will immediately reduce the world's karma so that we ourselves, our children and this planet can still be possibly saved from future destructions. Ask your heart and think seriously about this. You may do a study about this....in fact we have no time to waste now but to take whatever actions we can to stop global warming.

Answer 5

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4360...

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.as...

Answer 6

Separating the mother from her calf does cause anguish. Mother cows can often be seen searching and calling for their calves long after they've been separated.

When confronted with a bellowing cow, meat industry consultant and Professor of Animal Sciences, Dr. Temple Grandin, noted: “That’s one sad, unhappy, upset cow. She wants her baby. Bellowing for it, hunting for it. It’s like grieving, mourning – not much written about it. People don’t like to allow them thoughts or feelings.”

http://www.veganoutreach.org/starterpack...

As Michael Klaper M.D. recalls: “The very saddest sound in all my memory was burned into my awareness at age five on my uncle’s dairy farm in Wisconsin. A cow had given birth to a beautiful male calf...On the second day after birth, my uncle took the calf from the mother and placed him in the veal pen in the barn—only ten yards away, in plain view of his mother. The mother cow could see her infant, smell him, hear him, but could not touch him, comfort him, or nurse him. The heartrending bellows that she poured forth—minute after minute, hour after hour, for five long days—were excruciating to listen to. They are the most poignant and painful auditory memories I carry in my brain.”

http://www.chooseveg.com/dairy.asp

That said, I would not give someone a hard time for eating meat. It just gives vegans / veganism a bad image.

Answer 7

I don't really know if a cow would mourn for its baby, but any mother is definitely going to be sad if their child is taken away from them. The person who told you that cows mourn might have been going a little overboard too.

Answer 8

It upsets them like it would upset many animals.  Have you ever gone near a mother cat who just gave birth and see how concerned they are for their kittens?  It's the same thing.

Telling us that someone took it upon herself to lecture you is irrelevant to your question isn't it?

Answer 9

It's completely true.  The girl shouldn't have attacked you though.  I wouldn't take it personally, she's probably not been vegan very long, and is still in that overzealous phase, and hasn't learned to talk to people about being vegan rationally.  It takes awhile to learn that giving unsolicited advice only makes people angry.  It just makes the person that much less likely to stop shoveling down the carcass.

http://www.kountrylife.com/forum/message...

This lady talks about it in her post.

Answer 10

Think about it this way...A dog would miss it's puppies and look for them if they suddenly disappeared.  The dog would look all over the house and wonder where they were.

To say that a cow wouldn't know it if her own calf was taken is just ridiculous.  Nature has made mammals good parents and care about their babies.  They bond just like any other species including ours.

The cow licks her baby and feeds it.  It runs to it's Mom when it's scared.  They play together and cuddle.

Baby cows moo pathetically when they are taken away from their Moms...and the Mom cows moo for sometimes days when the baby is taken away.

Answer 11

cows do not have feelings, like emotional feelings like people do.  The cow won't know one way or another if it's calf is taken away, unless she hears it then you're in trouble.  But seriously, eat meat, why do you think God put animals on the planet anyways....for food!

Answer 12

Your vegan acquaintance has distorted the facts. Out of instinct many mamals will actively search for a missing young......it is based soley on survival of the species, more social animals such as monkeys will share in the raising of the young and protecting them, but once they die or have been taken, there is no need for therapy. Were it not for the size of our brain / intelligence humans could easily survive as a race on nothing more than vegetables, but the FACT is we need a lot of protein to fuel our brain and the BEST source is from animals. If we weren't meat eaters we might well be food for some other species.

Answer 13

Of course she is going to say that.... she is a vegan.  However, it is true that when cows get taken to slaughter, they do get panicky/stressed.  If you want more information about that, you may want to read the current issue of Men's Health.  If this woman was lecturing you, why didn't you politely excuse yourself from her, and walk away?

Answer 14

I have no idea if cows 'mourn' or not. They probably do. But that's irrelevant. I can understand why she annoyed you- parties are meant to be FUN- not be told you're a bad person!

Eat what you like. Your diet is nothing to do with anyone else.

Answer 15

I live in the middle of cow country. Yes, they do search for, bellow for, and agonize over the loss of their young  just like any mom would.

If you saw what "veal" lives in the few days before slaughter, you would at the very least never touch it again.

Although this was brought into your consciousness via a rather unexpected way, I am glad that something touched you.

Hard to know the truth about your food, isn't it?

Answer 16

Sorry you were lectured at a party after a long week. She did plant a seed in your head though, as you posted a question today?

There's a lot about the meat industry that turns my stomach, particularly concerning how the animals are treated.

And cows may not be the most intelligent animals, but they do experience pain and suffering.

Here's some information to assist you in your quest for knowledge.

R. J. Macer, Ph.D.  from the Eubios Ethics Institute wrote in Bioethics is Love of Life: An Alternative texbook:

All living organisms are biological beings, and share a common and intertwined biological heritage. Humans are members of the species Homo sapiens, one of the millions of species alive on the planet Earth. Fundamentally we must ask whether humans are a special form of life, different from other living creatures? We must also compare humans with other species and see where differences may be. We may also look at individual humans and ask whether there is any significant difference between individual members of the human species that could influence the ethical duties we have to them.

We may all agree that animals can suffer, but the question is how much does it matter? Only in some cases is there really a choice between human welfare and the suffering of nonhuman animals, usually it is money. At the practical level, the feeling of pain is the major guiding principle for animal treatment. Another that may define boundaries of killing is if they have self-awareness such as higher apes and dolphins for example, considered above. We do need to consider the findings of animal studies on the level of self-awareness that some may possess. Our bioethics must have a basis from all data, including reasoning, philosophy and biological knowledge

There are many species which show different levels of the above characters, and we should treat them after considering the level of autonomy that they have. Rather than expecting animals to speak the same language as humans, we should examine the actions and behaviour - the same criteria we use to examine true love from mere words in human beings. Many human persons have difficulty expressing the language of ethics and principles, but it does not mean that they lack the values used for balancing and making decisions. The same can be asked of members of other species.

In conclusion we can say that human love does extend to animals, but there are many questions about the limits that love should impose upon our action for the treatment of animals. We can also see signs of love in a number of animal species. I would suggest that it would be an especially unloving person who kills another being who can love, and we know enough about the minds and behaviour of certain species to say that they can love others even across species boundaries, so at least we should reciprocate. Part of the empathy that we expect animals to show when setting criteria for moral reasoning, we should also show towards animals. Love is give and take, and also trying to do our best for others. We are often guilty of neglecting the interests of others, but species lines should no longer be so easily drawn at animals said to be "lower" than Homo sapiens

Answer 17

Believe me, you don't want to read any link anyone will give you.  It's just propaganda.

My daisies cried the other day when I cut them from my yard too.  boohoo.  :(

BTW... have you tried the new Hawaiian Teriyaki burger at Carls Jr?  It's quite tasty!  :)

Answer 18

I am so glad you meet Mrs. Doctot Doolittle and she was able to tell you about how she converses with the animals.  She must be so much more special than any of us.

Answer 19

I have feelings too but if an entire species decided I was a step down on the food chain I would use the feeling fear to get the h**l out of the way.

Cows may have feelings but sadly they also lack verbal communication. If cows could talk we would not be eating them now would we?

(I don't eat cow but you know, this is parody)