Farmer sends warning after horrifying cow death at beauty spot

A farmer has spoken about the horrifying death of a cow found at a Guildford beauty spot. Selina Tilley, is one of the farmers who owns the grazing cows at the Riverside Nature Reserve. She

told SurreyLive: “On Saturday morning [May, 17] my husband got a voicemail from a walker on Riverside Nature Reserve and said that there was a decomposed cow, which was a bit of a shock

bearing in mind, we'd seen them at 3pm on Friday afternoon. Obviously it takes a few days for anything to decompose. “John went out there about 7am/7.30am, found the animal and phoned

me. They've all got tracking collars on, so 1.50am was the last update we got from it and then it, it hadn't moved since.” What her husband found was an animal that had essentially

been dismembered. Selina said: “It had been killed and butchered, and a lot of the meat removed. All legs, both shoulders, most of its organs, all of its offal. Someone knew half what they

were doing. "It wasn't very nice. Even to the extent, they'd cut the bottom of the legs off and thrown them into the Nature Reserve pond, I had to go and fish them out.” The

discovery came as quite a shock to the couple, who called the police. The case is now being investigated. As the cow had been butchered both Selina and Surrey Police have issued warnings

about any meat that could be consumed from the animal. Selina explained: "It's been medicated and is on a 66-day retention, and the medication would be harmful to humans. It says

quite clearly that the medicine is not for human consumption within that time. “These people may have taken it for their own family consumption, they might have children, obviously, a

child's going to get more sick than an adult.” The dead cow was one of 12 that grazes at the nature reserve that runs between the A3 and the River Wey. Selina told SurreyLive: “We do a

lot of conservation grazing for Guilford Borough Council. We graze about seven or eight of their sites various times of the year. The cattle have been on Riverside 12 to 15 years. "We

get lovely feedback from the walkers. You know, they like the cows and they bring the children there to see them. We're always checking them and quite often get asked questions. “We

breed a lot of cows. We have our own suckle herd. We keep a lot of female animals, but the boys do end up at the abattoir at some point, normally later on in their life. They've

normally had a nice life.” A spokesperson for Surrey Police said: “We appreciate that this discovery will cause distress and concern within the local community, and we would like to reassure

you that an investigation is underway to establish the circumstances of the cow’s death and identify those responsible. “Due to treatment the cow had recently had, it is not fit for human

consumption, and we would strongly urge you not to buy any unpackaged meat. We would also urge you to contact us straightaway if you have any information which could help.” Anyone with

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