We all look forward to this Sunday, May 10, when we celebrate Mother’s Day and the cherished bond between mother and child. Ironically, dairy cows — world-wide symbols of motherhood — never get to see their babies.

The newborn calves are torn from their mothers at birth and turned into veal cutlets, so we can drink the milk that nature designed for them. The distraught mothers bellow for days, hoping for their return.

Most cows spend their lives chained on a concrete floor, with no access to the outdoors. Each year, they are impregnated artificially to keep the milk flowing. When their production drops, around four years of age, they are turned into hamburgers.

This Sunday, let’s honor motherhood and our natural compassion by replacing cow’s milk and other dairy products, all laden with fat and cholesterol, with delicious, healthful, cruelty-free nut or soybased milk, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream. These are available in every supermarket. Mother cows, and our own bodies will be most grateful.

Louis Corrigan Lewiston