WE are encouraged to inform odd instances to the powers-that-be, are we not?

I noticed that a cow in the field I overlook from my home had been lying in the same place for about two days, while the rest of the herd were moving about the field.

It looked as if it was dead.

I first called the RSPCA. They said it wasn’t their problem and to call DEFRA, who were not interested either as I didn’t know who owned the field or the name of the farmer.

They told me to call the local police who said they couldn’t deal with the cow without the permission of the land owner.

I was doing what any good citizen would surely do, but the buck was passed on – nobody wanted to know.

I have no access to the field (the railway line is between my house and the field), but if the cow was dead it was an environmental health hazard, surely?

I then looked at a list of farmers in the Yellow Pages and found one from the area who may have been the owner.

A woman answered the call and said it wasn’t their field, but when her husband got home, she would tell him.

The animal was removed later that day as I could see a vehicle had made tracks in the grass.

Would not all of those I contacted have some animal welfare responsibility in the circumstances I have outlined?

In my opinion this was cruelty to an animal and it could have become an environmental health hazard.

So much for my concern. Nobody cared!

NAME SUPPLIED Hereford