This Mother’s Day, Thandie Newton Wants You to Empathise With Animal Mums

“As a mother, I can’t imagine what it would be like to have my children taken away from me”, Thandie Newton says in her new video for PETA – a sentiment that all parents should be able to relate to.

But as the BAFTA-winning star of films such as Crash and The Pursuit of Happyness explains, this is what is happening to cows on dairy farms every single day.

Watch her video to learn more:

In the dairy industry, newborn calves are taken away from their mothers so that the milk meant for them can be bought and consumed by humans. The distraught mothers often cry out for their stolen babies for days.

Male calves, who are considered a by-product of the dairy industry, may be shot in the head shortly after birth or sentenced to a short, miserable life before being killed and carved up as veal. Most female calves are destined for the same fate as their mothers: repeated artificial insemination until their bodies give out and they’re slaughtered for cheap meat.

It makes no difference if you buy “free-range”, organic or “pasture-grazed” milk. The basic facts of production are the same – for every pint you purchase, a baby cow somewhere has been snatched from a grieving mother’s side.

As a mother of three herself, Thandie can’t stomach this cruelty. That’s why she rejects the products of this cruel industry and instead chooses plant-based milks, such as soya, almond, hazelnut, rice, coconut or – her personal favourite – oat milk.

Check out our guide to non-dairy milks to learn more about all the choices out there. And follow in Thandie’s footsteps and help mother cows as well as all animals exploited for food by going vegan!