The Absolutely Fabulous Dame Joanna

Joanna Lumley became a dame in January when she made the Queen’s New Year Honors list for her “services to Drama, to Entertainment and to Charitable Causes.” This week she added the fabulous patronship of the Cuan Wildlife Rescue in Shropshire which patches up badgers, birds, and hedgehogs among other injured critters.

"I love what they do: caring for creatures that would otherwise die, rehabilitating them, and releasing them back into the wild - in some way making up for the damage that humans have done to nature,” said Dame Joanna in a statement. “I support their work with all my heart.”

Her other charities include Animal Aid, Animal Defenders International, Born Free Foundation, and Compassion in World Farming.

Speaking at Oxford also this week, she called the meat and dairy industries the "greatest source of animal cruelty on the planet." At least one farmer in the audience objected.

“Please don’t mark farmers as all bad people because they are not,” said a woman from a farming family. “Without farms it is a very, very sad world." Lumley assured her that the criticism was directed at factory farms.

Lumley has been a vegetarian for fifty years (“I don't like the idea of any creature having to lose its life to keep me alive”) and went full vegan in January. A fabulous dame.

Photo credit: Richard Dunwoody