I am contacting you just to let you have some further information on the ‘pot shots’ cull in Northumberland last week.

The information I have was that the incident took place at Stone Hall Farm on the 25th August, and was witnessed by a Mr. Alan Dixon from No 1, Briardale, Bedlington.

Alan Dixon witnessed animals not rounded up panicking, some of which were so distressed they were atttempting to climb over fences to get away. I have informed Mike Butcher from the RSPCA Northumberland division. This is not an isolated incident, as there are many reports that I am aware of where cattle have been shot at Indescriminately eg: ‘As the slaughtermen began work , 19 of the animals panicked and escaped from the pens, stampeding across fields on at least two neighbouring farms. Officials confirmed animals in contact with the marauding herd would also be shot. The farmer said the animals escaped after slaughtermen started taking ‘pot shots’ ar them, The cattle were going beserk. I have never seen anything like it in my life. Maff confirmed last night that two bullocks were still unaccounted for’. Farmer Les Winslade, South Moutlon Devon, The Times Tuesday May 15th Reporter Simon de Bruxelles.

I have also heard from a source in Maff that quad bikes have been used to drive up to cattle to break their legs so that they can slaughter them without having to chase them around. At the moment, Allendale is a no-go zone while your slaughter teams act completely unsupervised, as it is known that vets are sometimes asked to go and sit in their cars while the slaughter takes place. Even when the vets are there to watch the slaughter, they have allowed appalling acts of slaughter to take place. One farmer told me of how he went out to find slaughtermen and the vet standing by a fence shooting into his barn where the cattle were. There are farmers who are still having to have therapy
after having witnessed some of the most perverse acts of violence.
If you still don’t believe me, how about this account:
‘It took 25 shots to kill five cattle. On Tuesday villagers looked down on the killing grounds to see one bullock go down twice before a third shot finished it off. Another was hit in the spine, losing the use of it’s back legs. It was left pitifully trying to raise itself on it’s front pair for five minutes until the slaughtermen returned. It was not until the next day that they found and shot the last of the herd’ Farmer Bill Norman, Knowstone North Devon, Article in the Western Daily Press 17th May Reporter Chris Rundle.

Or this:
The slaughter team consisted of two men with captive bolts and one man with a knife. They were shooting them in the top and the back of the head. When the procedure began, the sheep panicked. Some were not killed straight away and sat on the haunches with their eyes rolling. Others flipped backwards and were clearly not unconscious or dead. Some live ones were trapped under shot sheep. The slaughterman who carried the knife walked around and poked them in the eyes to check for signs of life, and cut the throats of the sheep that were still alive. We returned to the second cull after 45 minutes. I was shocked at what I saw on my arrival; in one pile of bodies there were some sheep and lambs still alive. Most had their throats cut, and seemed to be drowning in their own blood. Others were shot but clearly not dead. One of the slaughtermen said, “ These lambs are taking a bit of a killing”. The Sunday Telegraph 19th August 2001 – Chris Graham, Sheep Farmer, Piercebridge, North Yorkshire who has recently given a statement to the RSPCA about the slaughter to establish a case. They told him “This is just the tip of the iceburg”. Excuses like ‘this is a crisis’ and ‘in hindsight’ do not hold any water anymore.

Apart from the fact the above acts are illegal (Welfare and Slaughter Act 1995) It is just a bloody disgrace, and your Department should be ashamed of what is is allowing to continue to happen, mainly through improper supervision and inadequate training.

Jon Dobson
11, Ramsdell Road
Fleet
Hampshire
GU51 1DB
Mobile: 07932 734018

I suppose I wasn't that polite, sorry Roger.
Hello everybody.
I have a reply this morning to an e-mail wot i sent to DEFRA last weekend regarding the `pot-shots`cull in Northumbria.
The man is in animal welfare Div. and has no infomation on this except what i told him. He wants the address,name of farmer,who was involved etc.etc. If you guys would politely like to fill him in with this and any other relevant info.on this instance or any of the others,please use the information below.

I have taken the opportunity to briefly remind him of VACCINATION as well. Are they starting to listen?