Smashing Pumpkins founder and frontman Billy Corgan is the latest star to speak out against the cruel practice of dehorning cattle. Billy is calling on California Pizza Kitchen to make the responsible and ethical decision to demand that its cheese suppliers stop this barbaric mutilation.

© StarMaxInc.com

Instead of using these excruciating dehorning methods, farmers can instead breed for naturally hornless, or "polled," cattle. Just as farmers select for traits such as coat color, they can select for the hornless gene. And since a single gene determines whether a cow will have horns and the polled gene is dominant over the horned gene, with selective breeding new generations of cows can be born without the gene for horns.

Several other companies have taken steps to eliminate dehorning, and Billy urges California Pizza Kitchen to follow suit. He is one of several celebrities, including Ryan Gosling and Casey Affleck, who want to see an end to this painful, and unnecessary mutilation immediately.

Billy is no stranger to raising his voice to protect animals. He's been a staunch supporter of PETA's Kentucky Fried Cruelty campaign and PETA Asia's campaign to free Mali. 

What You Can Do

Please join Billy Corgan in writing to California Pizza Kitchen and urging the company to require its cheese suppliers to stop dehorning.

Big dairy better be wary. Casey Affleck and Ryan Gosling have helped us expose dairy farms' cruel practice of dehorning calves to the public, and now PETA is appealing directly to dairy distributors' shareholders.

We bought stock in several dairy companies and businesses that have dairy farms in their supply chains so that we could propose shareholder resolutions asking the companies to phase out dehorning. Last week, we attended the annual meeting for WhiteWave, which owns Horizon Organic Milk, and told the other stockholders how the companies' dairy farm workers use searing-hot irons to burn off horn tissue or sharp tools to gouge out, or cut off calves' horns and often the surrounding tissue, too, while the animals bellow and writhe in pain. Not exactly the kind of thing that stockholders want to hear. We'll be piping up at the annual meeting for Domino's and proposing a shareholder resolution asking the company to require its suppliers to phase out dehorning.

PETA is offering both companies an easy solution: breed for polled (hornless) cattle. A single gene determines whether or not a cow will have horns, and this approach has proved effective in the beef industry.

We're also offering consumers an easy way to end dehorning: Purchase only cruelty-free (nondairy) milk. Let's horn in on cruelty, shall we?

On Dairy Day in Albany—when dairy industry representatives flood the New York capitol—State Sen. Tony Avella, a friend to animals and member of the Agriculture Committee, joined PETA in calling on Agri-Mark, Inc., maker of Cabot and McCadam cheeses, to end animal abuse on its suppliers' farms.

Cow Care Inaction

Three months have passed since PETA alerted Agri-Mark to the cruelty to cows documented during PETA's undercover investigation at one of Agri-Mark's suppliers, Adirondack Farms, LLC, and asked the company to require all cooperative members to implement basic and reasonable reforms that would prevent such cruelty from continuing and improve cows' lives.

Nearly 60,000 supporters have joined PETA's call so far, but Agri-Mark remains silent and apparently hasn't done a thing. Indeed, one manager who jabbed a downed cow in the ribs with a screwdriver and used a skid steer to drag her approximately 25 feet and electro-shocked another cow on the face repeatedly was left working in a supervisory capacity at the facility!

Cruelty in Every Cup

The dairy industry flacks—including those pimping McCadam cheese, made just down the road from Adirondack Farms—were hoping to celebrate Dairy Day by cozying up to lawmakers but were instead reminded of the cruelty of their dirty business as Sen. Avella displayed video footage from PETA's investigation. The exposé showed cows who were jabbed with poles and a calf who thrashed in agony while her horn buds and surrounding tissue were burned off without pain relief as smoke rose from her flesh.

What You Can Do

Please help Sen. Avella and PETA make sure that Agri-Mark gets the message to implement PETA's recommendations to end the most egregious abuses of cows on its cooperative members' farms immediately.