Not so humane dispatch

[Greymaster]

To be quite honest guys after reading all that has been written on particular incident I am getting a little fed up of all the theorising.

Who was actually there and witnessed the incident?

What was the actual details of the allegation on the disciplinary charge sheet?

Does anyone know what the force policy is with regard to dealing with injured deer, if indeed the force has one in the first place?

Did the guys concerned deliberately set out to cause unnecessary suffering to the animal, I very much doubt it.
From the information that I have read so far it seems that they have been treated rather shabbily, and what is the point of taking them off firearms. Far from being negligent with a firearm they have probably erred on the side of caution on this occasion and suffered as a consequence.

For all that has been said about UK armed police being down two firearms trained officers. Let us not forget the near mutiny of the of the Met's armed personnel in support of their colleagues who shot a man in the street carrying a table leg home in his holdall for repair.

 

[private fraser]

I am completely mystified as to the relevance of that.

 

[artschool]

For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind

 

[private fraser]

Plot totally lost.

 

[nun_hunter]

For all that has been said about UK armed police being down two firearms trained officers. Let us not forget the near mutiny of the of the Met's armed personnel in support of their colleagues who shot a man in the street carrying a table leg home in his holdall for repair.

In a job where your life can depend on the trust and support of your colleagues I think its only reasonable for people to stick together. As it is only a voluntary role on top of normal duties they're more than within their rights to refuse to carry firearms especially if they feel they will not get the support of their employers should something go wrong.

 

[nun_hunter]

For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind

Unfortunately it's the deer that'll suffer more as every firearms officer in the country is aware of this incident and now will be thinking "I'm not risking my job for a deer, I'll just call back the control room and request a vet come and do it instead"

 

[Irish Bob]

I realise I'm very brave saying this, but deer stalkers are a very variable bunch. They are not generally used to killing things at short ranges. Many are less used to dealing with stressful onlookers etc. Insurance and liability also comes into things. How does it reflect on the police if they call out a recreational deer stalker who right royally messes up? It reflects badly on the stalkers, but more so reflects badly on the police.

This is why I have no problem doing these calls as a vet. Insured. Used to this sort of work. Professionally responsible to a governing body - if I mess up I can even be struck off. Indemnity and pubic liability insurance. More tools at my disposal. The police also pay me.

If I lived in an area of high deer density then I might be less keen getting one call per night.

I agree that it needs the right person for the job, I tend to think the right person is not who you think they are........

I am pretty sure that BASC offer a free insurance extension for humane dispatch.

The BDS run a one day course on this. I would have thought anyone who passed that would be competent. Right tools for job, rifle for a mobile animal and shotgun for close immobile one.

 

[private fraser]

Have you attended an rta humane despatch or done a humane despatch course ?

 

[Taff]

Alas the one day experts,

 

[private fraser]

I went on a humane despatch course and it seemed that just about everything was deemed either illegal or inadvisable.
One thing was crystal clear...get police support if at all possible and get an incident number.
I'm not sure what I got out of it except an insight into the right royal mess that you can get into with the help of others as per the above post.

I stick with my above comments.

 

[cookingfat]

I believe the BDS has reviewed there old course as it was woefully inadequate in preparing stalkers who are new to call outs,also the jelen course is a good one to attend as there is a lot more practical scenarios included.
as for Insurance BDS and BASC cover you for RTA call outs, if you are in an area where the police constabulary has a scheme up and running you should be covered by there Insurance too.

 

[private fraser]

Maybe they will give a free updated course to those who spent money on the "woefully inadequate" recent one.

 

[Irish Bob]

The person I know who does quite a bit of this told me he always waits for the police to attend.

I have not attended a course but clearly any course must be fit for purpose.

 

[Mickeydredd]

If we were to carry a crowbar around in our vehicle, would we not receive special attention from the police? I doubt they'd accept a justification of doing so on the basis that we might come across an injured deer......

 

[artschool]

Unfortunately it's the deer that'll suffer more as every firearms officer in the country is aware of this incident and now will be thinking "I'm not risking my job for a deer, I'll just call back the control room and request a vet come and do it instead"

absolutely. its a strange world we have created for ourselves.

 

[palmer_mike]

I have a wheel brace in my car (as most people probably do) which could perform the same function.

 

[private fraser]

If we were to carry a crowbar around in our vehicle, would we not receive special attention from the police? I doubt they'd accept a justification of doing so on the basis that we might come across an injured deer......

That came up on the hd course I was on.
A knife is out unless you are going to / coming from stalking or fishing and a lot of the blunt force trauma suitable stuff is out too.
A ball peen hammer was suggested but once you have rendered the deer unconscious then what...keep on going and be accused of "inhumane despatch" and have a lot of folk on a forum (and otherwise) sit in judgement?.
Previous posters who say that it's the deer who will suffer have got it right.

 

[Irish Bob]

absolutely. its a strange world we have created for ourselves.

The glaringly obvious point you seem to be missing is that the two officers in question had two days to sort something out.

 

[Irish Bob]

Agreed, and it was the deer that sufferred in this case as they failed to call anyone out to the initial incident who could have carried out a proper assessment and then HDed the deer. They left it for two days then went back and did it themselves.

The point is it that is always a good practice to get someone involved who has some idea about the subject.

I will bet that if the force has a scheme they and those in the control room did not know about it.

As for calling a vet, FFS, what if the thing is highly mobile with a broken leg or needs a follow up with a dog?

 

[private fraser]

Did they have any training in deer rta procedure or how to deal with injured deer ?

If they did not, and it was incumbent upon their bosses to provide them with that, then they, in their untrained capacity, did what they thought best.
It wasn't only the deer that suffered in this debacle and saying they "wouldn't be troubling Mensa" is in poor taste considering what these guys may have to face up to these days.