The cattle upon a thousand hills

Walking near livestock
In view of a recent serious incident at the Dyke, local walkers may wish to bear the following NFU-approved Rambler guidelines in mind:

Do

  • Try to avoid getting between cows and their calves.
  • Be prepared for cattle to react to your presence, especially if you have a dog with you.
  • Move quickly and quietly, and if possible walk around the herd.
  • Keep your dog close and under effective control on a lead around cows and sheep.
  • Remember to close gates behind you when walking through fields containing livestock.

Don’t

  • Don’t hang onto your dog – if you are threatened by cattle, let it go as the cattle will chase the dog.
  • Don’t put yourself at risk – find another way round the cattle and rejoin the footpath as soon as possible.
  • Don’t panic or run – most cattle will stop before they reach you, if they follow just walk on quietly.

One in twelve

One in twelve
According to their own figures, police in West Sussex are only managing to solve one burglary in twelve. The West Sussex Gazette quotes the temporary chief constable as follows:

“We are taking this very seriously. I think there are two very clear reasons why this number has fallen. The first and most important is we just need to get better at investigating.”

He went on to blame a new computer system used to store data recently rolled out across the force.

The Sussex Police news isn’t all grim though: burglary victims will be pleased to learn that the force performs above average on a fifteen metre shuttle run; that a Chief Inspector has just set off for a ten day ‘fact-finding’ tour of Canadian universities; and that the Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner has been busy loading unwanted bedroom furniture into the back of a van.