Hopeful Day Today

We hope to uplift your spirits by sending you a joyful, positive look at the lives of rescued, protected cows living at the ISCOWP sanctuary. Often people think cows are rather dull. However, their secret lives, which most people never see, are full of fun, intelligence, and loving cow licks. Watch the rescued cows jump, run, kick and snort!

Today is Akshya Tritiya, a most auspicious day according to the Hindu calendar. On this day, Sage Veda Vyasa began reciting the Hindu epic Mahabharata to Ganesha who transcribed it and the Ganges river descended to earth.  Poor Sudama, the best friend of Krishna, visited Him (Lord Krishna) to greet Him after He became the King. With nothing to offer, Sudama took with him Poha (flat rice) and offered it to his friend, never discussing his poverty though he wanted to. On his return, he found his hut changed to a palace. A lot of people like to make donations on this day as any kind of human service on Akshay Tritiya returns in favor with wealth and prosperity. Please consider making a donation to the cows on this auspicious day! Please note the helpful tax information on the donation page.

ISCOWP News

Since this is our 30th year of protecting cows we will be posting a “flash from the past” photo each newsletter. This photo was taken at the ISKCON Rathayatra in Washington D.C., the capital of the USA. In the background, you can see the capital building. At this time we traveled across the USA with Vraja and Gita to explain cow protection to the people of America. This photo was taken in the year 1993.

Dairy and Meat Industries

1) 21,000,000 dairy calves are slaughtered for veal or cheap beef every year globally.
2) Due to extensive biological manipulation, today’s dairy cows produce up to 12 times more milk than they would naturally produce to feed a calf.
3) Even so, virtually all dairy calves are stolen from their mothers within hours of birth in order to maximize profit. 97% of newborn dairy calves are forcibly removed from their mothers within the first 24 hours.  The rest are removed in a matter of days. On so-called humane dairy farms, cows are often taken within the first hour of birth as separation of mother and calf is considered less stressful when they have not been allowed to bond (see video clip below).

You can refer to the Free from Harm website for references to the above statements.

About the Cow

1) Most people think that cows have four stomachs. That’s actually not true. They have just one stomach with four chambers – rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum. This allows them to digest tough plant matter that would normally be indigestible.
2) Cow gestation lasts the same amount of time as a human pregnancy, nine months.
3) In 2009, a team of researchers from the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that they’d successfully mapped the bovine genome. The results? Cattle have about 22,000 genes, and a whopping 80% of those are shared with humans. (Another 10% are shared with dogs and rodents.)

You can always Adopt a Cow for Akshya Tritiya. Here is Vegan Indira who was rescued from a dairy when she was about to be sent to slaughter. Her tail was cut off in the dairy and she can’t swish away the flies.