…having said that and aligning with MTVN’s thought processing…

Police ‘probably right’ to ram cow with car, says farmer’s union official…

Police were “probably right” to run over an escaped 10-month-old calf, according to a farmers’ union official.

Hugh Broom, National Farmers’ Union’s South East livestock chairman, said although the situation looked “horrendous”, officers had limited options and probably took the correct course of action.

The officer, who was driving the police vehicle used to ram the calf, was removed from front-line duties on Sunday amid widespread anger over the use of force.

Footage emerged showing the police car ploughing into the calf twice in a residential street in Feltham, west London. It first knocked the animal, named Beau Lucy, several yards down the road before pinning it to the ground.

Surrey Police has launched an internal investigation into the incident, which happened on Friday night, and referred the matter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

‘Right thing at the time’

Mr Broom told BBC Radio Surrey: “While the whole thing looks horrendous, and it is for everyone, they probably did the right thing at the time.

“The other option is you shoot the animal. In that environment would you want to be using a rifle in a built-up area on a dark Friday night?”

Mr Broom added: “God forbid it had gone the other way and the animal ran off and bumped into someone, sent a child flying, sent any person flying, [which is] perfectly possible, and they were seriously injured or worse.

“People would be saying: ‘Why wasn’t the animal stopped?’”

Sir Keir Starmer has said he was “really shocked” by the video of the incident. When asked about it while campaigning in Southampton, the Labour leader said: “I think anybody who saw that footage would be shocked.

“I think you’ll correct me if I’m wrong, the officer has been taken off front-line duties. But yeah, I was shocked.”

‘Illogical to get upset’

Amid the outrage, John Simpson, the BBC’s world affairs editor, suggested those voicing criticism to the force and then “sitting down to enjoy Sunday roast beef” were “illogical”.

Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, he said: “Isn’t there something a bit illogical about getting upset by a police car hitting a cow, then sitting down to enjoy a Sunday lunch of roast beef?”

He added: “Interesting to see the angry reactions to this. Could it be that some people are uncomfortable with being reminded that their lunch used to be a sentient creature?”

The 10-month-old female calf got loose from common grazing land in Staines on Friday evening and was reportedly charging around a residential area.

Surrey Police insisted officers had spent several hours trying to catch the animal before the decision was made to run it down using a car to keep the public safe.

But when footage of the incident emerged, James Cleverly, the Home Secretary, demanded an “urgent explanation” from the force, describing the response as “unnecessarily heavy-handed”.

Other commentators, including animal rights campaigners, complained about the police’s response. Chris Packham, the wildlife TV presenter, described those responsible as “monsters” and suggested they should be “investigated and prosecuted”.

Dept Chief Constable Nev Kemp of Surrey Police said on Sunday: “I fully appreciate the distress our handling of this incident has caused and will ensure that it is thoroughly and diligently investigated.

“In addition to an internal referral to our professional standards department, we have also referred the matter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct for independent consideration.

“At this time, the officer who was driving the police car has been removed from front-line duties pending the outcome of these investigations.”

‘Time will tell’

The owner of the animal, who would only give his name as Rob, described the footage as horrific and said the incident could have been handled “so much better”.

The calf suffered a gash to its leg but is recovering after being treated by a vet.

“I don’t understand why [the police] didn’t use a tranquilising dart,” the owner said. “If they used a tranquilising dart the animal would have calmed right down… if they needed to get a halter on it or restrain it.”

He said the animal was “a lot better” and was recovering well, but added: “Time will tell because we don’t know what internal injuries she might have.

“But she’s eating so there’s always promise when there’s that.”

Friends of the cow’s owner told MailOnline they feared she may be infertile following the attack. The calf had been designated from birth for breeding, they said.

More than 30 people have been killed by stampeding cows in the UK in the last six years.

…oh, you already posted that….doh, I’m a bit slow…

I regularly walk my dog and my kids through a herd of cows. They're gentle, inquisitive and if they're blocking the path you can gently urge them off. The only time they get a bit bad tempered is when they have new calves nearby. The treatment of this young cow by the police was totally unacceptable and I wonder whether someone who could do that should be in a position of power.

Perfect take on things !


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I grew up around cows (that sounds odd, but I did, I grew up in Ayrshire which is like 90% dairy farming land), spent my summers playing in the fields full of cows, had multiple "farming friends" (lots of farmer families at my primary school) and while it's true that cows are gentle, friendly, inquisitive animals when happy in their fields and farms it's a very different story if they're panicking/charging.

Cows are large, heavy animals and a scared cow running around is absolutely a danger to the public, both vehicles and pedestrians. If it got onto a dual carriageway or motorway it could be catastrophic.

IMO as terrible as it looks, stopping the cow and bringing it under control was the immediate concern, and I'm not sure there's much more that could have been done in the moment. Perhaps lessons need to be learned, in that in areas where a livestock escape is a possibility, there could be some sort of "first responder" situation with a list of farmers who can be called in to react quickly. They're the only ones with the expertise to do so safely. Expecting police to have the knowledge to safely wrangle a large animal without getting hurt or making matters worse is a lot.

They're also very robust and they rammed it at low speed meaning it's not quite like hitting a person with a car.

:shrug: I don't think it's a nice thing to have happened but I think the right call was made under pressure, and it's 100% true that people would be frothing at the mouth asking why no action was taken to stop the cow, if it had ended up even accidentally knocking someone over an injuring/killing them, or had caused a pile-up.

I have to admit to the last part of your post MTVN. although I think this was cruel and totally uncalled for,i think the same about the slaughter of animals.