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Cow rammed by police

222 replies

Labtastic · 15/06/2024 18:16

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

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OonaStubbs · 17/06/2024 13:48

They don't kill cows for meat by running them over with cars.

Marrta · 17/06/2024 13:59

I know everyone has the idea it's gentle and humane when they kill the animals

ThisWittyLurker · 17/06/2024 14:03

Lots of people including me don’t eat meat

RationalityIsHard · 17/06/2024 15:46

WinterMorn · 17/06/2024 12:41

That is a totally separate issue. The question here is about the judgement, power and decision making of Police, and where the line should be drawn.

Bollocks is it. For most people here it's clearly 'how could they do that to such a lovely animal (and don't remind me about veal and crates)'

WinterMorn · 17/06/2024 16:44

RationalityIsHard · 17/06/2024 15:46

Bollocks is it. For most people here it's clearly 'how could they do that to such a lovely animal (and don't remind me about veal and crates)'

Respectfully, we don’t agree, so let’s just leave it there.

Serencwtch · 17/06/2024 17:40

DH & I are farmers and our feelings on the incident are quite mixed.
Whilst the footage looks disgusting when you actually consider what the alternatives were I think I can understand why that decision was made.
Animals aren't born bucket or halter trained & it doesn't matter how experienced the police/vet/farmer is if the animal is not used to being handled then it's going to be virtually impossible to safely restrain it.

The only alternative would have been a marksman (or armed squad) in an urban residential street which would have been more dangerous, more distressing for residents & wider public & ultimately killed the animal.
We had our fallen stock man come this morning who is also trained marksman & he was saying there was no way he would have been able to shoot in that situation.

The police officer probably feels terrible about the whole thing & extremely unlikely to have done it in a moment of anger of impulse it would have been a carefully planned maneuver. It's something police have done before so assume it's a known driving skill.

Having said that as farmers its drummed into you from the start that you don't cause suffering to an animal. Where you need to take a life you do so as quickly as pain free as you can. I have never seen a farmer do something like that, however we are in a rural area & not south west London (staines/feltham is technically Surrey but if you are unfamiliar it is very much suburban London)

I'm sure there will be learning points from the police investigation & its absolutely the right thing that Surrey police & IOPC are investigating.

DwarfBeans · 17/06/2024 18:09

Marrta · 17/06/2024 13:59

I know everyone has the idea it's gentle and humane when they kill the animals

Yep. You can't kill a living being humanely if they don't want to die. You're just choosing a less horrific method of murder.

DwarfBeans · 17/06/2024 18:12

Marrta · 17/06/2024 09:18

I want to stop using milk, it's just coffee I need though and the replacements are terrible and expensive

It's the two week rule. If you stop taking sugar in your tea it tastes disgusting with sugar two weeks later. You can do it.

Mytholmroyd · 17/06/2024 18:20

Labtastic · 16/06/2024 22:17

"Efforts were made to contact local vets without success"

Sorry, this just screams absolute bollocks to me. I have never, ever contacted a vet out of hours and not been directed to the on-call vet. There is always 24 hour cover for vets. Any animal owner will know this statement of theirs can't be true. Some serious incompetence is being covered up.

Yes a total and utter lie.

And what people are shocked at is not the fact that animals are killed for meat (humans have been doing that for hundreds of thousands of years) but that anyone who does what that police officer did is sadistic and lacking empathy and compassion and there is a very strong link between abusing animals and abusing people. Compassion is the identifier of a civilised society.

And of course it was a calf and would have been seeking safety. The optics are awful.

And yes, I have been to an abbattoir and yes I only buy local free range chicken and grass fed beef, organic milk,and outdoor reared bacon etc etc on principle or we don't eat meat.

newtlover · 17/06/2024 19:37

well whoever would have thought it-
they tried to get a vet but none available
they tried to find the owner but couldnt
a young animal unlikely to be halter trained
shooting the animal with traquiliser dart or otherwise too denagerous in the dark
calf capable of injuring the public
'police probably right says farmer and NFU chief

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg33v21weg3o

A cow is seen underneath a police car

Staines: Police who hit cow 'probably right', says farmer

The force is facing questions over the incident in which a calf was apparently hit twice by a car.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg33v21weg3o

OonaStubbs · 17/06/2024 20:37

Why didn't they get a rope and lasso it?

Mytholmroyd · 17/06/2024 21:16

I don't think they tried very hard to call out proper help!

Cow rammed by police
Mytholmroyd · 17/06/2024 21:19

Or they could have called out the fire brigade if no farmers could be found

Cow rammed by police
Mytholmroyd · 17/06/2024 21:20

Sorry not sure why you can't see all the image - technical fail 😂

Mytholmroyd · 17/06/2024 21:49

I mean, look at the size of her - she's no bigger than a Shetland pony!

Cow rammed by police
Firefly1987 · 18/06/2024 02:45

We used to get escaped cows in our garden all the time (farmer was a bit lax with fences) and because my parents inexplicably never had a gate on their drive (despite having pets) they'd often be down the drive straight onto a main road. Half the bloody herd sometimes! So either my dad or the farmer or police would have to send them back up. No one ever thought to ram them with their car. It has happened before though, I don't want to look it up but I know I've heard of it happening.

I can't help but think if it was a female police officer it would've been handled much better and with zero violence. A lot of men just don't care, if there's a news story about a wildfire and animals dying they're there making jokes about BBQs. They're probably making jokes about this on other sites more populated by men. One of my dads friends apparently used to run over cats on purpose if he saw one. Makes me appreciate the men who do care like David Attenborough/Chris Packham/Brian May even more.

TryingToSeeTheFunnySide · 18/06/2024 04:53

https://animalrising.nationbuilder.com/petition_for_the_surrey_police_to_send_beau_the_calf_to_a_sanctuary

This petition is doing the rounds if anyone is interested. It'd be lovely if this little calf has a happy ending.

sleepyscientist · 18/06/2024 10:29

newtlover · 17/06/2024 19:37

well whoever would have thought it-
they tried to get a vet but none available
they tried to find the owner but couldnt
a young animal unlikely to be halter trained
shooting the animal with traquiliser dart or otherwise too denagerous in the dark
calf capable of injuring the public
'police probably right says farmer and NFU chief

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg33v21weg3o

I mean if the public can't avoid a calf they kinda get what they deserve! Town folk really don't know they are born

@TryingToSeeTheFunnySide signed be lovely to see them on a sanctuary think the police force should buy him off the farmer and donate

derxa · 18/06/2024 23:22

TryingToSeeTheFunnySide · 18/06/2024 04:53

https://animalrising.nationbuilder.com/petition_for_the_surrey_police_to_send_beau_the_calf_to_a_sanctuary

This petition is doing the rounds if anyone is interested. It'd be lovely if this little calf has a happy ending.

Animal Rising. The group who took three lambs away from their mothers

powershowerforanhour · 19/06/2024 21:29

" don't remind me about veal and crates"

Veal crates were banned in the UK over 30 years ago.

TryingToSeeTheFunnySide · 20/06/2024 17:00

derxa · 18/06/2024 23:22

Animal Rising. The group who took three lambs away from their mothers

What? I don't know anything about this. I actually don't know much about Animal Rising at all. I just liked that particular petition, which was being shared. Needless to say, I'm very against taking lambs from their mothers. But, the petition is about this specific calf, and that's what I signed.
It's a minefield trying to live completely ethically. Pretty much everything is connected to something imperfect. We can only do our best I guess.
I'll do some research into Animal Rising. I think it's quite a new thing, as I've heard very little about it...

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