Everyone screamed as police 4x4 hit the calf at 30 mph and 4 more times!

This is the viral news story of a police officer driving his police vehicle into a female calf on a suburban road because that police officer feared for the lives of pedestrians in the area and the police claim that the calf rammed cars and by implication therefore damage them.

Everyone screamed as police 4x4 hit the calf at 30 mph and 4 more times! Screenshot from resident's video

The truth of the story is different to the one presented by the police which isn't unusual in my experience. This, by the way, is an opinion article based upon the news. I will declare right away that I don't like the police. Some like the police and some don't. I am in the latter group. My dislike of the police come from personal experience and encounters with them.

Initially in a news report it was said that the police car rammed the calf twice and on the second occasion the calf ended up under the vehicle. The latter is true but an eyewitness said that the police officer rammed the calf five times. And to all intents and purposes it looks very much like this police officer wanted to kill the calf in a panicked judgement.

The officer who used his police car to ram the escaped cow has been removed from frontline duties while witnesses said they were disgusted by what they saw. They screamed and cried and howled in anguish at what they saw.

And it appears to me that it was bystanders who successfully intervened and helped the police to get the calf into a horsebox and back to the farm from where it had escaped. The owners of the farm are bemused as to how the cow escaped but they think it might've swam over a river. It would seem, too, that without wishing to be too critical, they are also negligent.

Everyone screamed as police 4x4 hit the calf at 30 mph and 4 more times! Screenshot from resident's video

And I'm making an allegation here that the police were negligent and I will also make an allegation that it is possible that the police committed a crime. A crime under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 in the UK.

It's being investigated. Advocates for Animals a law firm, said that they had been instructed by the charity Humane Society International UK to look into prosecutions. It isn't me who believes that this might have been a crime which it looks like.

Under that act it is a crime to unnecessarily cause pain in an animal. The argument here is that it was unnecessary to ram the calf because there were many other more humane options. The police needed to seek help. They were involved with this calf for a few hours we are told. They had plenty of time to assess the situation and seek proper assistance from experts who could have dealt with the calf humanely.

The calf was knocked down near Bedfont Lakes Country Park and Saint Dunstan's Meadow in Feltham in west London. Hounslow Heath has been a home for a herd of cattle for a long time and is about 3 miles away.

What's amazing about the story is that the police officer decided to ram the calf knowing full well that it was likely that there'd be someone somewhere filming the incident and that is what happened. A resident's video footage shows the police car speeding into the back of the stray animal sending its sprawling down the road. And in another video seen by The Times newspaper a female police officer tells a witness that she understood their anger and said, "I feel awful."

That's an admission by a fellow police officer that what the behaviour of male police officer driving the vehicle was awful and wrong. Here, here!

The calf has a name: Beau Lucy, indicating that this was a pet of some sort or at least they have a close relationship with the owner.

James Cleverly, the Home Secretary, called for a "full and urgent explanation" having seen the video I believe on social media where it has been shared extensively.

Deputy Chief Constable Nev Kemp, of Surrey police said: "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. At this time, the officer who was driving the police car has been removed from frontline duties pending the outcome of these investigations. I know there is much concern around the current welfare of the cow. She continues to be monitored by a vet and our rural officers are staying in contact with the owner for updates."

Kai Bennett, 22, a warehouse worker, was an eyewitness to the events. He said the animal was struck five times and not two as initially reported. He said he was returning home after visiting a friend when a group of people ran towards him. "They carried on past me and I asked them what they were running from and they just shouted 'cow'. I then saw a black baby calf running at me."

"I didn't want to get hurt so I decided to follow it and called the police. A big police 4x4 turned up and hit the cow at about 30 mph. I went ballistic. The car wasn't hurting anyone. They did it again and this time they pulled forward so the car was pinning it down by the neck. It was disgusting. It managed to get up and walked off very confused. The police officer got back in the car, did a U-turn and ran it over again. Everyone was screaming, thinking it was dead."

-----------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Police try to stop an escaped cow by ramming it with their car in Feltham, West London.
byu/Xisrr1 inPETA

Avian flu puts cow cuddling under threat

In America, a lot of small farmers rely on selling their cow cuddling services to the public to pay for the running of their farms such as purchasing bales of hay. It seems to me that to these small farm holders cow cuddling is a nice source of added income which supplements their regular income. That's the benefit from the farmer's point of view. 

Of course, there is a benefit from the customer's point of view because cow cuddling is known to be very therapeutic. There are other long-term gains such as understanding that cows are sentient beings. I can remember very clearly a video of a farmer in Europe had a great relationship with his farm animals including his cows. 

These relationships are very similar to those that one finds between companion dogs or cats and their caregivers. Cows are great animals although we treat them as livestock be used for the benefit of humankind.

We don't know for sure how people can contract avian influenza from cows but a person exposed to infected cattle on a farm in Texas tested positive for H5N1. They were the second documented case of human infection of the virus in the United States.

Although we don't know specifically how people are infected it is due to close contact with infected animals. Perhaps, and I'm guessing here, saliva is passed from cow to person and the saliva contains the virus. Most people who have fallen ill with H5N1 have had close contact with infected animals typically poultry.

The best of my knowledge, a person who contracted H5N1 was not seriously ill. The individual referred to above was treated for a single symptom of eye redness and they received antiviral medication. There was a case in the UK. The man contracted the disease from ducks. He was successfully treated.

In America, the CDC considered the risk of H5N1 being transferred to people as low but precautions are necessary. Milk from infected cows needs to be discarded although pasteurisation of milk kills the virus. Barn cats caught the disease from drinking infected milk on a Texas farm. It killed 12 of 24 cats in days.

Avian flu killed 12 Texas farm cats in four days after getting the disease from cattle

Perhaps the big problem for the cow cuddling businesses is that customers will no longer want to cuddle cows knowing that there is a potential risk of contracting this disease. This is the problem rather than the farms having to stop selling the service. Although they will probably do it voluntarily as they'd be exposed not only to the virus but to a claim for compensation through the courts! 😒🤢

In summary, while the risk of transmission from cows to humans remains low, health authorities are closely monitoring the situation and taking precautions. Some people who want to cuddle cows will also be taking precautions if they are aware of this zoonosis and avoid cows.

Some more on avian flu infecting people

Avian flu, also known as bird flu, is an infectious type of influenza that primarily affects birds. However, in rare cases, it can also infect humans. Here are some key points about avian flu:

Strains of Bird Flu Virus:

• Most bird flu viruses do not infect humans. However, there are four strains that have caused concern:
• H5N1 (since 1997)
• H7N9 (since 2013)
• H5N6 (since 2014)
• H5N8 (since 2016)
• While these strains don’t easily infect people and are not usually spread from human to human, there have been cases of human infection worldwide, leading to fatalities.

How Bird Flu Spreads to Humans:

• Bird flu is primarily spread through close contact with infected birds (dead or alive).
• This includes touching infected birds, their droppings, or bedding.
• Markets where live birds are sold can also be a source of bird flu.
• Eating fully cooked poultry or eggs does not transmit bird flu, even in areas with outbreaks.

Symptoms in Humans:

• The main symptoms of bird flu can appear rapidly and include:
• Very high temperature or feeling hot and shivery
• Aching muscles
• Headache
• Cough or shortness of breath
• Other early symptoms may include diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, chest pain, bleeding from the nose and gums, and conjunctivitis.
• Severe complications such as pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome can develop within days of symptoms appearing.

Treatment and Prevention:

• Antiviral medications can help prevent complications if administered promptly.
• Prevention measures include avoiding contact with infected birds, practicing good hygiene, and cooking meat thoroughly.
• There is no specific bird flu vaccine available.

------------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

If you eat cheese, you are actively supporting babies being taken from their mothers

If you eat cheese, you are actively supporting babies being taken from their mothers. Screenshot.

This is not about cats. I'm sorry. But sometimes needs must as they say. This is about cows and their calves. It's about the production of milk. You may know that farmers take calves away from their mothers at a very young age so that they don't steal the milk from humans. Farmers want all the milk that the mother produces to be processed and sold to humans which is a bit bizarre because this is cow's milk and it is designed to be drunk by calves. Cow's milk does all kinds bad things to humans such as bloat, diarrhoea and I'm told that it even weakens bones. A lot of people are lactose intolerant which is why they suffer from bloating when they drink cow's milk.

Putting calves in tiny enclosures after being torn from their mums is cruel and unproductive.

So, the end product is no good anyway. In the meantime, the mother suffers the emotional anguish of having her baby taken away from her which is an anguish matched by the distress suffered by the calf. Mothers will kill to save their calves. That's the depth of the bond. Calves are then placed in small patches or tiny enclosures (see image below) separated from other calves and of course their mothers which is more cruelty to animals because cows are social creatures.

The whole process is designed to make farming more efficient. It is relating to livestock as assets. In fact, inanimate assets pretty well because there is little regard to their sentience.

Screenshot.

The more you watch these sorts of videos the more you understand the way farmers handle their livestock and the more you are driven away from dairy and meat products. The reason behind the video is that PETA want people to think like that and give up these products and become vegan. I am on board with that campaign. I've not made it yet but I am heading towards being a vegan or at least a vegetarian.

All the dairy cows want to lick this farm cat

All the dairy cows want to lick this farm cat. Screenshot.

This is a cute and brilliant interspecies relationship. But in this instance, all the cows want to be friends with this farm cat and wash her. It must feel good to be so popular. An interesting aspect of the video is that clearly domestic cats enjoy being licked by another animal. 

Domestic cats are known to be fastidiously clean but here we have a cat which allows themselves to have the saliva of a cow deposited all over their head. You might think that this would be uncomfortable or even unacceptable but no. They like it and by the look of it seek out those licks.

You may have to click on the play button twice to get the video to work for which I apologise but this is Google software and I cannot improve on it. I apologise for the music. I did not make the video and I wouldn't have added music like this to it but the visuals are good.