Tons Of Celebrities Sign Letter To End Tail Docking In California

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by Michael Parrish DuDell September 24, 2009
Categories: Animals
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

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As many Ecorazzi readers know, besides animal production being hell for Planet Earth, it’s also not too grand for the animals. That’s why a slew of well-known stars donated their John Hancock to help reduce the cruelty.

Stars like Kim Basinger, Alicia Silverstone, Bill Maher, Bob Barker, Emily Deschanel, Fred Willard, Ginnifer Goodwin, James Cromwell, Kristen Bell, Mariel Hemingway and Valerie Harper all asked Governor Schwarzenegger to sign a bill that would end the cruel practice of amputating dairy cows’ tails.

The letter was written by our friends at Farm Sanctuary and sent to the Governor just two days ago.

Although both chambers of California legislature passed the bill to end tail docking in the dairy industry, it won’t become a law unless the governor sigs it.

Farm Sanctuary’s president and co-founder Gene Baur said: “With last November’s landslide passage of Prop 2, banning the three cruelest farm animal confinement systems in the state, Californians made it clear they will no longer tolerate cruel and unnecessary practices on factory farms. By putting an end to tail docking, Governor Schwarzenegger has the opportunity to continue this wave of compassion and send a humane message to the rest of the country.”

We agree and hope that the Governator makes the right choice!

  • VeggieTart

    I’d rather see the dairy industry END, but this is a good start.

    And Bill Maher has been very critical of the culture of cows’ milk consumption on his show.

  • Philip

    Tail docking is an archaic practice that has been denounced by all the major dairy organizations in California. It should be banned, but the practice is neither widespread or approved by most dairymen.

  • http://twitter.com/dairydino Dairydino

    I am a California dairy farmer and I support the bill. Tail docking is a practice that was experimented with 10 years ago or so to see if there would be a benefit to milk quality. It was soon discovered there was no advantage to the dairy farmer, the cow, or the milk so the practice soon ended.

    This bill simply bans a practice that is pretty much not a practice at all. One thing people need to realize is that a dairy farmer’s livelihood is dependent on the cows. If the cow is not happy, healthy, well fed, and clean, she won’t produce milk. We have many reasons to treat our animals with the utmost care.

    I would bet we treat our cows as well or better than most of these “celebrities” treat their pets. One thing is for sure, we treat our animal better than these “celebrities” treat the hard working families that produce their food.

  • Dave Miller

    I am a crop farmer from Iowa. I had a dairy farm in Indiana in the 1970s. So celebrities who neither know how to raise food or care for animals are thought to be credible sources of information. That would be a bad joke, if it wasn’t so sad. Animal agriculture is not bad for the earth, and food products from animals are an essential part of the food solutions for the planet.

    I do not defend the practice of tail docking and when I was a dairy farmer I did not dock the tails of my cows, but I at least know from whence I speak, whereas the celebrity letter signers do not. They should stick to movies.

  • http://us.hessnatur.com/blog/ Kirsten Lioba

    I’m all for the ban, but the publicity revolving around it shouldn’t cast a bad light on any conscientious farmers out there who disagree with the process in the first place. If tail docking is indeed out of practice, that’s great, and the public should know about it.

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