Are Armed Police Licenced?

[Clayduster]

I Hope they had cow on their conditions

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2299480/Operation-runaway-cow-Four-marksmen-police-officers-patrol-cars-catch-gun-misses-unlikely-fugitive.html

 

 

 

[Blunderbuss]

No but they should be. Even allowing for Daily Mail OTT reporting that's a colossal over reaction and waste of resources. I'm not one of the serial police bashers on here, but they (or their managers) do themselves no favors sometimes.

[THE AD]

Why the hell did they say it was aggressive,more like scared by the police sirens and blue flashing lights. Phone farmer he brings cattle truck he loads it up NO NEED TO SHOOT THE COW simples.

[huffhuff]

I didn't read the bit about blue flashing lights and sirens. I did read the bit where the farmer was contacted though - and he said shoot it.

 

Huge waste of resources but I'm sure it's justified somewhere...you'd hope so anyway

[al4x]

Bear in mind it jumped the fence into the school so it wasn't just going to be easy to herd it into a lorry, when you get one that jumps well its hard to move them safely with the right handling equipment let alone anything else. It was the safe option but they aren't easy to kill unless you take a head shot

[Mungler]

The comments on the Daily Mail webby are pretty good

 

Perhaps we can now update the expression "couldn't hit a cow's **** with a banjo".

[Dekers]

Its in the paper, so EVERY word is true.

 

Of course it's over reaction and trigger happy Police.

 

Of Course they took the right action and protected the public!

 

Go figure!

[Kes]

Cant help thinking the reaction was driven by 'possible' injury to the public and 'danger' to police officers. I dont want to bash the police either but this seems like all the police in the area thought this would be a good hour, blue lights and guns so they all congregated. I cannot imagine it really needed all the police resources and would probably have ended better if a couple of old lads had just rounded her up.

[UKPoacher]

A few years back a highland cow jumped out of a pen, almost killed the guy who tried to catch it and ran off into public land. After a conference between the cow's owner and the police superintendent they agreed to shoot it because of the public danger. The owner couldn't guarantee to catch it safely and suggested that it be dispatched. It used to happen quite often when the abbatoir close to Barnsley town centre was working.

 

Damned if you do and damned if you don't. That's the problem with police being reported in the press. You all do things at work that you would rather keep quiet yet jump on the bandwagon to slag off the police when you only have the press's account to work on.

[Zulu]

Any one know what calibre Lincs use for animal destruction ? , just wondering , not always easy to take a head shot with escaped animals .

[aris]

Obviously none of them had heard of a dart gun. Don't vets who do business in farming communities carry those?

[kev56]

Tranquilizer dart, as used on bull elephants ?

[Kes]

A few years back a highland cow jumped out of a pen, almost killed the guy who tried to catch it and ran off into public land. After a conference between the cow's owner and the police superintendent they agreed to shoot it because of the public danger. The owner couldn't guarantee to catch it safely and suggested that it be dispatched. It used to happen quite often when the abbatoir close to Barnsley town centre was working.

 

Damned if you do and damned if you don't. That's the problem with police being reported in the press. You all do things at work that you would rather keep quiet yet jump on the bandwagon to slag off the police when you only have the press's account to work on.

I cant agree - I have worked closely with the police and when it came to dealing with 'emergencies' the reaction of the tasking officers could often have been improved on. It also seemed that there awas an ever present battle with the fire service as to 'who was running the show' which didnt help.

As with everything, some good, some bad but in a service where you expect the best

[Twistedsanity]

i grew up on Harrow school farm which is a dairy farm and my dad was the head herdsman there , cows are dosile gentle and dumb creatures and the only time i have ever known them to "charge" or display agression is when they have had their calves taken away . Cows see things at about ten times magnifiaction that we do and i have never seen a cow that wouldnt turn tail and run if a person stands in its pathway and simply jumps up and down waving their arms about. Maybe it was on crack or something? Maybe the police were on crack? either way there is something very wrong with the picture being painted but then it is in the Daily Fail

[aris]

Tranquilizer dart, as used on bull elephants ?

 

They can be be used on any kind of animal. Generally speaking, a vet will look at an animal, estimate its weight, and dose the tranquillizer dart accordingly. They then have an antidote which they can inject into the animal to quickly bring it back to conciousness.

[happypig]

Perhaps the police should have deployed the PW hindsight gun

 

 

They would have deployed an appropriate calibre and its likely they followed up with shotgun slug.

 

The officers are far more aware of shooting in an urban environment than most.....

 

For all those banging on about numbers.... How many people do you think it takes to contain an average street with all the on lookers trying to film things for YouTube ?

 

This is simply daily business and cost nothing extra to the tax payers as the officers were on duty anyhow

[al4x]

 

They can be be used on any kind of animal. Generally speaking, a vet will look at an animal, estimate its weight, and dose the tranquillizer dart accordingly. They then have an antidote which they can inject into the animal to quickly bring it back to conciousness.

Very few vets carry them, and once dosed the animal can't enter the food chain so really you might as well shoot it. And farmers also don't tend to own dart guns, though the paper describes this as a cow the Belgian blue is a beef breed so it could well be a young steer as much as a docile cow they can jump and they can seriously injure you if you get between them and anything hard. How docile also depends how much they have been handled I used to move some friesian bull beef animals that were truly lethal if you weren't very careful

[aris]

Very few vets carry them, and once dosed the animal can't enter the food chain so really you might as well shoot it. And farmers also don't tend to own dart guns, though the paper describes this as a cow the Belgian blue is a beef breed so it could well be a young steer as much as a docile cow they can jump and they can seriously injure you if you get between them and anything hard. How docile also depends how much they have been handled I used to move some friesian bull beef animals that were truly lethal if you weren't very careful

 

Interesting. My wifes sister and her husband are both vets in a farming community in South Africa. They dart animals all the time, though I think it is usually wild game on a game farm. Presumably the whole thing in the article above came down to costs then. The cheapest and most expedient solution was to kill it. Seems a shame that it all comes down to money. I'm guessing too that its unconventional demise means it will simply be thrown away rather than eaten.

[four-wheel-drive]

This is England is it not why would you expect common sense to be used.

[Fuddster]

Interesting. My wifes sister and her husband are both vets in a farming community in South Africa. They dart animals all the time, though I think it is usually wild game on a game farm. Presumably the whole thing in the article above came down to costs then. The cheapest and most expedient solution was to kill it. Seems a shame that it all comes down to money. I'm guessing too that its unconventional demise means it will simply be thrown away rather than eaten.

Problem with a tranq dart is firstly your usual vet does not have access-There is only one for my county who's equipped but only as he's the vet cover for a attraction park that has some large african game.

 

Then its £400 a dart and who's going to pay that-excluding the vets call out. Farmers and cattle markets all deny liability. I've known farmers tell little white lies just to get a 'rampaging beast' shot rather than call out a vet or slaughterman.

 

Then you have to get within 30m of the beast to deliver.If they miss, the ground has to be excavated and disposed of as toxic waste for 1m around where the dart lands.

 

The vets last advice was that it could take twenty minutes for a dart to take effect-in the mean time the animal can react in differnt ways and remains out of control.

 

RSPCA are unable to assist.

Likewise local authority.

 

So it falls to a licenced slaughterman with a rifle or armed Police with a rifle.

 

hope that clarifies the use fo darts.

 

ps I'm not a slaughterman.

 

F.

[Scully]

As someone said,damned if tey do,damned if they don't.I'm just appalled at the fact the first shot missed.What range are we talking here,and is there any indication as to where the 'missed' shot ended up?

[swiss.tony]

Any one know what calibre Lincs use for animal destruction ? , just wondering , not always easy to take a head shot with escaped animals .

 

sure .223 is biggest they carry as well as 9mm and non lethal

[Dekers]

As someone said,damned if tey do,damned if they don't.I'm just appalled at the fact the first shot missed.What range are we talking here,and is there any indication as to where the 'missed' shot ended up?

 

 

Did it miss, was there more than one shooter, was the shot taken from the Grassy Knoll, was the BULL charging, had it already gored several school children and babies in push chairs, was there panic and pandemonium all round with young mothers running in all directions scared for their childrens lives, of the battalion of Army snipers called who was the hero carried aloft when the mighty beast was slain, or was it all hushed up as the SAS didn't want any publicity?

Edited March 27, 2013 by Dekers

[Zulu]

sure .223 is biggest they carry as well as 9mm and non lethal

 

Would have expected them to have something a bit bigger than .223 Tony , maybe thats the difficulty ?

[overandunder2012]

to be honest i think shooting in a school yard was more dangerous than a cow, but then again i guess you had to be there

Edited March 27, 2013 by overandunder2012