Sunday is Mother’s Day, when we celebrate the cherished bond between mother and child. But some dairy cows, worldwide symbols of motherhood, never even get to see their babies.

The newborn calves are taken from their mothers at birth and chained by the neck in tight wooden crates. They are denied mother’s milk and nurturing as well as natural food and water, fresh air and sunshine, straw bedding or any movement. They suffer from chronic anemia, diarrhea and respiratory disorders.

The product of this misery, laced with saturated fat, cholesterol, antibiotics and hormones, is sold in gourmet restaurants as veal.

Because of consumers’ revulsion at these abuses, the infamous veal crates have been banned by the European Union. Yet the U.S. dairy and veal industries have resisted similar reforms.

Lyle Metteer, Lewiston