6th October, 2010 Fascinating but gruesome

No pictures for this one! Yesterday Jenny and I accompanied the Animal Rescue Team and the participants in the ART3 course to the hunt kennels to see a cow being dissected by Josh Slater, the vet. The object of this exercise is to demonstrate to the officers just how vulnerable to injury animals can be when they are trapped and how easy it would be to do more damage whilst rescuing them. In particular, the front legs which are not attached to the rest of the skeleton by bone, the tendons, ligaments and the bones of the leg which are not protected by muscle, and the trachea and the joints of the neck, can be irreperably damaged if handled incorrectly or placed under too much pressure. The stomach and intestines of cows and horses are massive and can soon place too much strain on other organs and the muscles if the animal is recumbent for too long.