Actress Miriam Margolyes joins forces with Animal Equality UK to front the organisation's 'remake our food system' petition
Animal Equality UK has teamed up with legendary actor Miriam Margolyes to urge the government to rethink the food system.
The Call the Midwife star is fronting the organisation’s ‘remake our food system’ petition and is urging the government to incentivize arable farming in a bid to move away from dairy farming.
In a recent campaign, Margolyes revealed that she recently learned the truth about dairy farming after watching disturbing footage of the abuse and neglect of dairy cows on a farm in Wales.
Margolyes admits that until that point, she never truly understood the exploitation of female dairy cows. The Harry Potter actor confessed: “I never thought about the fact that in order to produce milk cows have to have babies.
“It seems so obvious when you say it but what it means for animals, it hadn’t occurred to me.”
“I know what it is like to have a strong bond with your mother”
Miriam continued to explain the tragic life of a female dairy cow. Female cows are repeatedly impregnated throughout their working life. Once their calf is born, the baby is taken away from its mother and the milk produced for the baby is bottled and sold.
Moreover, Margolyes highlighted the grief that mother cows feel once their babies are taken away. “I know what it is like to have a strong bond with your mother, and animals have that bond too.”
Animal Equality UK’s heartbreaking footage shows a mother cow chasing a van that her newborn calf was taken away in.
Furthermore, Miriam concludes that there is something that we can all do to help end the needless suffering of cows.
Switching the plant-based alternatives is the first step we can do to stop our reliance on cow’s milk.
Secondly, Margolyes calls for financial incentives for farmers to encourage them to produce crops for sustainable dairy alternatives.
The actor closes the campaign by saying: “We must make this harsh world kinder. I hope that together we can do just that.”
Want to learn more? Discover the tragic realities for male calves in the dairy industry
Feature image credit: David M. Benett via Getty Images
