Joanna Lumley has pledged her support for a campaign to improve care for dairy cows across Europe, Orange news has reported. The Absolutely Fabulous star, a patron of the animal rights charity Compassion in World Farming, is urging European Union (EU) leaders to establish minimum standards of welfare for dairy cows. Lumley has asked people to sign the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), which allows EU residents to propose new legislation for protecting cows. Currently, while there are specific EU welfare rules for laying hens and pigs, no specific protection currently exists for dairy cows, meaning welfare standards vary greatly, according to the organisers.

She says, “It’s our chance to say we don’t want to see our cows forced indoors, unable to graze in the summer fields, and to ask the EU to give them the protection they deserve. Other farm animals have specific laws, designed to guarantee a minimum welfare standard for them. Dairy cows don’t. If you believe they should, please sign the Citizens’ Initiative and help make that happen.”

It has some high-level corporate dairy support as well, with Unilever’s Ben & Jerry’s and Cono of the Netherlands also backing the campaign.

The campaign has a website: www.happycows.eu