For Immediate Release: July 13, 2006

Contacts: Mercy For Animals 866-MFA-Ohio

ACTIVISTS DISH-UP DAIRY-FREE DESSERTS IN PROTEST OF NATIONAL ICE CREAM DAY

Dayton Residents Served Cruelty-Free Ice Cream Alternative – Graphic Video Dishes Dirt on Cruel Dairy Industry

Dayton, OH — Donning aprons that declare “Dairy-Free and Delicious”, and backed by a banner reading “Dairy is Udderly Cruel,” members of the animal advocacy organization Mercy For Animals (MFA) will protest National Ice Cream Day (July 16th) by dishing-up delicious dairy-free soy ice cream samples to Dayton’s hungry lunchtime crowd. Armed with a mobile TV unit, the activists will also dish dirt on the dairy industry’s cruel treatment of cows and calves by airing graphic undercover footage from factory farms.

Date: Friday, July 14th

Time: 12 noon

Location: Northwest corner Main St. and Third St. (across from Courthouse Square), in downtown Dayton, Ohio

What’s wrong with dairy? Dairy cows are repeatedly artificially impregnated in order to force them to produce unnaturally high quantities of milk. Their calves are torn from their side within days of birth, causing severe distress. Many of the male calves are relegated to the dark, cramped conditions of a veal crate before being killed. Once a dairy cow’s production declines, they, like their offspring, are slaughtered at an age that is just a fraction of their natural life expectancy.

"If dairy producers treated dogs and cats in the horrific manner they treat cows and calves, they would be prosecuted and jailed for cruelty to animals," says MFA’s Executive Director Nathan Runkle. “Adopting a vegan diet is a powerful way to help end animal abuse.”

For more information, visit www.ChooseVeg.com.