New measures to tackle the dangers and costs of stray horses
By Imogen Johnson
General news
12 January 2012 12:06
World Horse Welfare (WHW) and Hertfordshire Constabulary successfully sets up ‘Greenyard Procedure’ to tackle the dangers and costs of stray horses and illegal grazing.
In recent years Hertfordshire constabulary spent a huge amount of time and resources dealing with stray horses on roads and illegal grazing. Using the ‘Greenyard Procedure’ the Hertfordshire constabulary, with the help and advice of WHW Field Officer Nick White, has managed to reduce equine related costs from £60,000 to around £2,000 over the past 18 months and improve police awareness and procedure in horse related issues.
“It has been extremely rewarding to play an instrumental role in improving the way the constabulary deals with horse-related issues which has also lead to a huge reduction in costs for them,” said Nick.
“One of the key changes as a result of the Greenyard Procedure has been the increased awareness and training of officers so they know how to deal with a horse if they come across one.
“Stray horses on the roads are a real danger, often very frightened they sometimes resort to their flight instinct. They may cause accidents, close major highways for hours and put public lives in danger.
“Horses on the public Highways are a police matter but if a horse is injured or suffering then the relevant welfare organisations such as World Horse Welfare would be contacted to assist.”
The Greenyard Procedure has been recognised for its success as Hertfordshire Police have been nominated for a Tilley Award 2011 for their efforts.
The Greenyard Procedure works as follows:
· Incidents where horses are loose and straying on the public Highways are reported to Hertfordshire Constabulary
· Call takers clarify location and relevant dangers
· Units are dispatched to the scenes
· When the horses are located and have been contained safely, as soon as the location has been made safe, officers attempt to contact the owners or persons responsible for them to arrange removal
· Owners who allow their horses to stray onto the public Highway may be liable to prosecution under The Highways Act 1980 depending on the circumstances
· If owners or persons responsible cannot be traced, horses on the public Highway will be removed to a place of safety i.e. a ‘greenyard’
· The Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) leads enquiries to trace the owner
· If horses are not claimed within 15 days then the rights of ownership will pass to the ‘greenyard’ who then have authorisation to sell or rehome the horse/s as appropriate.
· If the horse is not claimed then Hertfordshire Constabulary is only liable for costs up to the 15 days
Inspector Duncan Grieves from Hertfordshire Constabulary said: “Hertfordshire has the largest population of horses per square mile compared to any other county in the country. Therefore, we were seeing a rising number of incidents of horses straying from their enclosures onto public highways and land, leading to increased danger.
“But with the Greenyayd Procedure the amount of time officers have to spend dealing with actual incidents of recovering stray horses has now been greatly reduced. The availability of the greenyard allows officers to move on quickly to deal with other incidents.”
Field Officer Nick White is now working with other police forces to encourage them to adopt similar procedures.
For more information visit www.worldhorsewelfare.org