Police officers rammed an escaped calf with their patrol car – then handed the animal over to a pair of travellers who later asked her owner for a ‘cost of recovery fee’.
The animal, called Beau Lucy, was tossed 30ft when she was hit by a Surrey Police 4×4 into in Feltham, West London, on Friday.
But instead of calling an emergency vet, officers gave her to two ‘members of the public with a trailer’, who offered to temporarily keep her in their smallholding near Heathrow.
A source told : ‘The police handed her over to two men who were there when it happened. They offered to look after Beau Lucy and took her to a farm near Heathrow.
‘But when the owner got there, it was a bit of a struggle getting her back. They insisted on being paid for keeping her, and he had no choice but to cough up.’
Beau Lucy is now recuperating back home, with her owner telling Channel 5 News she is ‘sulky and bruised’ but otherwise in a ‘remarkable condition’ despite her ordeal.
A Surrey Police spokesperson said: ‘Following the injury caused to the cow, two members of the public offered to use their trailer to transport her to a nearby smallholding accompanied by police.
‘Once identified, the owner then collected the cow from the smallholding. The members of the public have sought costs for providing this transportation service.
‘Surrey Police intends to make a compassionate payment to the owner of the cow. This will cover both the cost of recovery of the cow from the scene and the cost of immediate critical care for the cow by a veterinarian.
‘The latest update we have on the condition of the calf is that she continues to recover under the treatment of a vet and has been reunited with her herd.’
Yesterday, a farmer and union chief claimed police were ‘probably right’ to ram into the escape calf.
Hugh Broom, National Farmers’ Union’s South East livestock chairman, said although the footage looked ‘horrendous’, officers probably ‘did the right thing at the time’.
The 10-month-old cow suffered grazes and a large cut on her leg when she was mowed down.
The disturbing footage sparked widespread anger and Surrey Police later announced that the officer who was behind the wheel has been removed from frontline duties pending an investigation.
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?’
But despite Mr Broom trying to justify the incident, Beau Lucy’s owner has raised fears of the cow becoming infertile.
The calf was earmarked from birth as a ‘breeding cow’ – sparing her a one-way trip to an abattoir in favour of a life spent life grazing lush meadows with generations of her own calves.
Cows usually start giving birth at around two to three years old and continue to do so for around a decade.
But friends of the farmer worry that the stress of the attack may have left her unable to reproduce – leaving him with no humane way of making back the investment in her feed and care if Surrey Police fail to pay compensation.
If Beau Lucy’s injuries mean she cannot give birth, the owner will have wasted thousands of pounds on her at a time when many farmers are struggling to make ends meet.
But his friends insisted the preference would be for her to live out her days at an animal sanctuary.
The farmer who owns Beau Lucy has described her as ‘sulky and bruised’, as he accused police of ‘trying to kill her’.
Speaking to The Sun, Beau Lucy’s owner Rob said the calf was ‘feisty and upset’ and ‘scared witless’ when he managed to get to her.
He told the newspaper he is ‘angry, upset and disgusted’, adding: ‘We did think they were trying to kill it.’
His wife said the force could have fetched a vet and used a tranquilliser if they were concerned.
Rob said previously: ‘I think the video speaks for itself. It was quite horrific. The method of dealing with the situation was incorrect. It was wrong and I think that’s the message we’ve learned. It could have been handled so much better. The videos were an upsetting sight.’
He said Beau Lucy is ‘a lot better’ and recovering well, but added: ‘Time will tell because we don’t know what internal injuries she might have. But she’s eating and she’s cuddling so there’s always promise when there’s that.’