Calves starved to death, mothers torn from their newborns\u2026 Matteo Cupi, Animal Equality\u2019s Vice President in Europe, witnessed it all inside an Italian mozzarella farm. Here\u2019s how the global dairy industry operates\u2013and why you deserve the truth.<\/em><\/p>\n Buffalo calves, thin and frail, lay abandoned on a Northern Italian mozzarella farm.<\/p>\n Their ribs pressed against their skin, and they were too weak to stand. Some had already collapsed, their bodies motionless on the concrete floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n Born male and unable to produce milk, they were considered useless to the dairy industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rather than sending them to slaughter, the farm left them to starve to death.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Within hours of birth, these calves were torn from their mothers by careless workers and discarded like lifeless objects. Some were flung onto farming equipment, crying out for the mothers they would never know.<\/p>\n I witnessed much of this firsthand <\/strong>during Animal Equality\u2019s 2010 investigation.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Seeing dead animals scattered across the farm was one of the most shocking moments of the investigation. Their bodies were left out in the open, decaying and impossible to miss.<\/p>\n One of my colleagues found a calf buried under straw and feces\u2013a clumsy attempt to hide the cruelty.\u00a0<\/p>\n The picturesque image of mozzarella farms is a lie.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n But this is much bigger than one farm\u2013or even one country.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Animal Equality released an investigation into India\u2019s dairy industry. Here, they found the same disregard for life.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n![\"Baby](\"https:\/\/animalequality.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2023-india-dairy-investigation-italy-buffalo-1500x759-1.jpg\")
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