Cow rammed by police

[Labtastic]

I am absolutely gobsmacked by this - Surrey Police ramming an escaped cow to the ground and then trapping it under their car - what in the name of actual fuck were they thinking? It looks to be a young cow too. Just horrifying. (The video is distressing so watch with caution)

https://x.com/ub1ub2/status/1801939257054859521?s=46&t=Pfjp_stFUzJzWEsZJQFxng

I heard on LBC this morning that the calf is expected to make a full recovery.

I hope so too and that its soon reunited with its mum, it will be a real celebrity and the public disgust has shamed those lying police involved.

That is appalling. I live rurally and we frequently see escaped livestock, anything from fully grown cows to chickens.
If we can shoo them to safety then we do, and ring any of the local farmers who will come and assist.

I’m surprised it had been in the loose for ours. On our rural WhatsApp group that has the local police in if anything like that happened here at least two experienced farmers would go and help within the hour at the worst

I heard on Radio 4 this morning a brief interview with the journo who does 'Farming Today' and she said that it was a panicking animal and it was a panicked situation.

It's abundantly clear from the footage that it was neither of these things.

She also said that although she's been a journalist specialising in farming for the past 30 years she would not have a clue how to deal with the situation.

Quite unimpressive in my view. For a start, the fact was they had already managed to block a road with a police car and were directing it as it wandered slowly about. Surely this means that it really ought to have been possible to do something other than driving a police car at speed at it - twice.

Edited because my sentence was a bit clumsy

Its the old crap that unless you are a vegan you can't complain about any animal abuse at all.

she also said @AlwaysCloudyAtNoon that she was surprised at the police and their lack of knowledge, admitted that most people would not know what to do in the situation but did say to call a farmer and/or a vet - assuming you heard the same woman as me

Surely a vet with a tranquilliser dart was the answer?
Just horrible.

Yes that's true. That bit made sense to me, anyway. But the use of 'panicked' irritated me intensely.

The thing that still does not make sense if the police claim it was on the loose for hours. So time enough to call someone who knows what they are doing.

You just have to wonder what on earth the police were thinking.

absolutely @AlwaysCloudyAtNoon

It’s completely unnecessary, and indicative of a completely moronically officer without the appropriate faculties to respond to events.

it’s a calf. If you’re too frightened to approach it you can use your car to gently herd it to an appropriate area. I’m taking it didn’t get the bus in so there must be a farm nearby.

round here, anyone with a bit of fenced land will let escaped animals be kept there temporarily whilst owners are located.

And once again, although we don't need any further proof, the police demonsrate that they do not have a bloody clue about how to handle anything, really.

Sadly typical of what happens in evenings/weekends when the more senior officers are enjoying their "family friendly" hours leaving the small rump of junior officers to try to cope with things which they're incapable of doing.

So many of these fiascos, whether police or fire service, are outside normal office hours and it just shows the lack of skills/abilities of those on the front line when something unusual happens.

appalling and lack of common sense - as others have said herd it into a garden , shut the gate and call for someone who knows what they’re doing

👆 This 👆

I overheard a conversation between slaughterhouse workers in a pub once and what they do for kicks. I won't go into details but let's just say they kept score.

There is no humanity. The only way to be sure you're not contributing to cruelty like this is to go vegan.

Even the guy being chased wasn't impressed with their actions.

overheard a conversation between slaughterhouse workers in a pub once
What are the chances eh!

Oh god that's awful. There would have been a better way to handle it.

I was once on a big road coming home and a whole gang of sheep had escaped. Police cordoned off as much as possible whilst farmers and dogs herded the sheep. I would have thought that many sheep could potentially do more damage than one calf.

We're surrounded by fields with cows in, and have on several occasions had a lone cow break in and be found outside our back door happily eating the grass. While I get it's easier to coax a cow out of a garden and back into a field, I'm 5 foot 3 and managed it all on my own. I didn't get the car out to help...

Yes. You can't manage a situation like this in cars They needed a group of sensible humans on foot and some gates

The Met didn't try to ram those horses that galloped loose 6 miles through the centre of London, and the horses were about three times the size of the calf (that the Surrey police statement refers to as a cow).

I agree @powershowerforanhour . If the met had tried to ram the horses there would have been a fatality - possibly including the driver's. The calf represented low hanging fruit. It was loping along quite calmly, yet undoubtedly confused. It was an easy target for a moment of misplaced violence.

This. Cows aren't wild animals. It was a calf FFS. It was a monstrous and sadist act and I hope the driver is sacked.

Very good connection between cruelty to animals and humans.

I have lived next to fields of cows for decades and they get in my garden from time to time. They aren't aggressive in any way. Bucket with some oats would probably have done the trick. But why on earth didn't they get a farmers help if they'd been chasing it for hours!

Am just baffled. And furious.

I've not read the whole thread, but this morning there was a large cow loose on the road behind our houses. You know what happened? Someone contacted the farmer, who retrieved the cow and all ended happily.
What didn't happen was some moronic policeman deliberately ramming it with his vehicle, repeatedly.