Sorry Police again - poor cow

[Tallisker]

Cow rammed by police www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/5097630-cow-rammed-by-police

Do you think this cow could be female given its treatment by Sorry Police?

Bloody disgusted by the police. Apparently the calf only had cuts- hope it’s safe and not killed or subjected to a life of being raped and giving birth for milk.

I think I’d rather be run over to be honest….

College of Police guidance allows the use of firearms to euthanise animals if they pose a danger to public safety. Therefore, it’s very likely the duty inspector would have been considering this as an option.

While no one wants to harm livestock, my DH used to work in a semi-rural A&E and saw a number of patients who had suffered injuries from cattle (and not just bulls) and was aware of an least one (human) fatality. Therefore I can believe there is a real risk in these situations and that the police would have been hauled over the coals if a bystander came to harm.

@Balhammom If there was a herd of them then yes I guess people could be injured. This was a lone calf that was running scared. Any damage it had caused (someone's car) was down to it being chased. The situation should have been dealt with calmly, getting the calf calmed down, enticing it towards food and then securing it. All of these could have been avoided. I don't expect the police to know a lot about animal care, welfare and behaviour, therefore they should have called someone that does that could have calmed the situation down, rather than causing mass hysteria.

Yeah police go around why cow food in their cars in case of this situation

@ThePoshUns They had hours to get some food whilst they were wasting time at a loss of what to do.

It was a young female calf. Not a herd of bullocks. There was no justification for the actions the police took.
No effort was made to contact the farmer or indeed any farmers to come and help.
Instead they chased it and wound it up before ramming it with a police car twice.

The calf had got out of the field by crossing a river.

It would have been easily contained if the officers had been calm. Backed off and contacted local farmers. Chasing animals rarely ends well.
This calf was no risk to the public. It is alive with no major injuries but could still die of shock.

@carerlookingtochangejob thank you for someone finally talking some sense. I agree that if they had let the calf calm down they would have been able to secure it. Their actions just led to the calf becoming more and more agitated.

Then they should have called someone who does. There are vets on call all the time, including government vets who deal with animal welfare. There are also local authority trading standards inspectors who also deal with animal welfare and could guide the police to someone local who would have known what to do.

And as a vet, I can confirm that the links between animal abuse and domestic and other kinds of violence are very well established. Any policeman who could do this (and I’d be willing to bet the driver was male) he should not be ever put in a situation where he has power over anyone.

Comparisons with shooting the animal are irrelevant. That would require higher level decisions and professionals coming in. It would be unlikely to be deployed anyway as it wouldn’t be safe in a built up area.

Whether it would be enticed with food while so worked up is impossible to say, but there is no doubt that the action that was taken was entirely inappropriate. Quite apart from anything else, had the animal gone up onto the bonnet of the car, the driver and any passenger could have been killed. Given the recklessness of the action, it’s a miracle it turned out as well as it did. It was entirely down to luck and not skill.

@PriOn1 I was thinking about what action would have been taken had the calf gone through the windscreen and killed his passenger colleague? Surely that then would have been a manslaughter charge. The video footage showed the driver as being male. I hope like you, that all power is removed from him, he has clearly demonstrated that he is not up for the role of a police officer. If he is not dismissed then I would hope he would do the right thing and resign from the force. Either way he life is now screwed over that one dreadful decision.

Tbh food would probably not really have helped. Cattle when stressed won't eat and also this was a young recently weaned heifer. Who probably hasn't really had much in the way of concentrate feed. So probably wouldn't know what it was. In fact rattling a bucket may have scared it more.

@carerlookingtochangejob oh ok. I think the vet has nailed it with their post. It could have been a manslaughter case! Hope he resigns if not dismissed. I don't know who he can show his face again after this.