It’s the official launch day of OPERATION RECALL, our partnership project to keep farm animals and dogs safer.
OPERATION RECALL is the brainchild of a dedicated rural police officer, Jim, from the Cheshire Police rural crime team. The team themselves celebrated their fourth-anniversary last week, and their existence in policing is vital for our rural communities. Happy Birthday, team!
Since their creation, Jim has become aware that far too many livestock attacks occur – too many being any at all, as Jim believes that all of the thousands of attacks across the UK were, and are, entirely preventable.
Easily occurring yet easily preventable
One moment, your usually calm dog, compliant and off lead, is by your side and, in the next, they can be chasing or attacking a sheep, utterly unresponsive to your attempts to call them back.
In those few minutes where you have lost control, the level of devastation caused can be unimaginable. Both livestock AND your dog for those moments are at risk.
All too often, it sadly leads to the chased animal suffering extreme distress and injury, or even death, with your dog at risk of being shot by the farmer.
No one wants any of this to happen.
Jim explains, “I think it is a misconception that just because some farmers breed animals that may ultimately end up in the food chain, that they don’t care too much, from all my experiences, I can say with confidence I’ve not met any farmer who hasn’t cared for their animals and is deeply upset when an attack occurs.
“Having dealt with a large number of dog owners or persons who should have been in control of a dog at the time of a livestock attack, I can also say that there are very few that don’t care for their dog or indeed the livestock that has been affected, most of the time it’s an unawareness of their surroundings in the countryside.”
Police officer Jim has worked for Cheshire police for eight years.
So many of us love walking our dogs in the countryside, so Jim was keen to ensure that the project’s emphasis was not to persecute the dog walkers or the dogs themselves but to provide education and awareness about how these situations can be avoided altogether.
OPERATION RECALL, therefore, has two main components:
- To provide widespread education and awareness of steps dog carers and dog walkers can follow to prevent their dogs from worrying animals.
- To provide offenders with training to prevent any repeat attacks from taking place.
These steps should decrease incidents and keep both dogs and farmed animals safer.
A timely partnership for animal welfare
We love partnership working! This project fits the bill for us, and being a founding member of OPERATION RECALL has been an excellent opportunity for Cheshire Police, the RSPCA and Naturewatch Foundation. With everyone united in playing a role in stamping out the problem of livestock worrying and alleviating animal suffering, we will be the change needed.
Following the abandonment of the Kept Animals Bill in Parliament this year, frontline projects are now vital for improving animal welfare. Sections that contained legislation recommendations to keep farm animals safe were abandoned. OPERATION RECALL is picking up the reins and ‘taking the lead’ to decrease the number of livestock attacks in the UK.
Keep an eye out for more from our launch event at Cheshire Police HQ- it’s baaaarilliant!
Main photo: Geoff (RSPCA), Jim (Cheshire Police) and Kate (Naturewatch Foundation) all worked together closely on OPERATION RECALL.
