Harriet to be marked for death
28 September 2006
Harriet, the pet Jersey cow from Gloucestershire has been given a death sentence by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The Government claim that she once shared feed with a cow that later contracted BSE, though Harriet’s owners and vet dispute this claim.
Under the so called ‘Animal Welfare’ Minister's interpretation of BSE control laws, he insists that Harriet must die, although she is a pet cow and her owners have no intention of letting her enter the food chain.
Harriet’s MP, Mark Harper, has written once more to the Minister begging him to spare her life.
In his letter to the Minister, Mark writes “Harriet is well loved locally and no one will permit here to enter the food chain. She poses no danger to public health. I cannot emphasise enough the opposition locally to this slaughter. I am concerned that there may well be a large number of people present when your representative arrives to object to this action.
“As I have said before there is no way Harriet will enter the food chain. She is a much loved pet cow, as the protests will no doubt demonstrate, and no one will permit her to be eaten. Is it not possible to allow her to have a long life and, when the time comes, allow her to die peacefully and take the necessary measures then to ensure that she does not accidentally enter the food chain? I would repeat once more that I cannot see how this would happen.
“I look forward to your urgent intervention in this matter before it is too late for Harriet.”
The State Vet is due to visit Harriet on the afternoon of the 9th October to make a valuation and tag her for culling.
Mark later said “Government bureaucracy has sentenced Harriet to death. There is no way that she will ever be a danger to human health. She is a much loved pet and no one has any plans to eat her. Killing her is a needless act that will achieve nothing. DEFRA claim that they need to value her, but money cannot compensate for the affectation felt for her."
In a cruel twist of life imitating art, Harriet’s death would leave her daughter, Bambi, orphaned.
