THEY SHOOT HORSES DON"T THEY?

Police to investigate handling of incident involving shooting of horses near Dunnington

POLICE are to review their handling of an incident near York which ended with them shooting dead two horses, leaving locals outraged.

During the incident at Dunnington, near York, on Sunday, police and members of the public spent hours trying to control four horses which had got loose near the A1079.

After several hours of attempts to corral the horses safely, police marksmen killed two of the horses, and the remaining two were contained in a nearby field.

Superintendent Andy McMillan, of North Yorkshire Police, said the killing was a last resort, but the incident would be investigated following concerns raised by locals and witnesses to the operation.

He said: “The decision to shoot the wild horses was taken to protect the public from a potentially dangerous situation of the animals running on to a busy road and causing a serious or even fatal collision.

“The decision was made following assistance from a specialist equine vet and having contacted the RSPCA. Every effort was made to bring the situation under control without having to destroy any of the horses, but ultimately public safety has to be our number one priority.

“Nevertheless, we are very mindful of the concerns that have been raised about the way the incident was handled by North Yorkshire Police. To address this issue I am undertaking a detailed review of the circumstances surrounding the incident.”

Lorna Marchi, owner of York Riding School, said she was “appalled” by the handling of the operation.

She said: “If someone had called us we could have had them all safe. I can’t believe that a group of people who are used to dealing with horses couldn’t have been brought in to help and avoid the animals being shot. Why didn’t they just call up one of the riding schools in York and ask for help?”

“As I understand it, the horses were in a field. If they were not on a highway, why couldn’t they just use an electric fence around where they were and leave them there.”

Yesterday, vet James Christie told The Press “several attempts had been made to manually round up and capture the horses, but had been unsuccessful”. Mr Christie said tranquiliser darts were considered but not used, and the shooting of the horses was a decision made by police after efforts to control them were unsuccessful.

Thank goodness that the police are investigating the way that this dreadful operation was handled - clearly RSPCA's press dept - Henry Macaulay's network, will not allow this to be published in the national press, but it's good to see the local papers doing their job for once. Doubtless, the RSPCA will be exonerated too.

York Press