Family's pet cow faces slaughter

Harriet the pet cow could be 'rustled' says the government

The plight of a nine-year-old Jersey cow, which has been condemned to death, has been raised in the Commons.

The pet animal, named Harriet, may have shared the same feed as another cow that died of BSE and must be culled to stop it entering the food chain.

The pet animal could also still be "rustled", said the government.

Mark Harper, Tory MP for the Forest of Dean, urged Animal Welfare minister Ben Bradshaw to spare Harriet, owned by Gloucestershire farmer David Price.

Mr Bradshaw said that it was open to Mr Price to challenge any decision made in the courts.

Legal obligation

The farmer has raised the animal as a pet for his children and insists there is no chance it will ever enter the food chain.

But Mr Bradshaw said that although Harriet was padlocked in a field and her passport had been seized by Defra, the owners could not offer an "absolute guarantee" against the unlikely risk of cattle rustling.

Mr Harper told a Westminster Hall debate that evidence showed Harriet had been raised in another part of the farm from the other diseased beast and that animal feed was not bought in bulk, so the pet cow could not have eaten from the same batch.

Mr Bradshaw said Harriet was not too old to be harbouring BSE - the oldest cow to be reported with the disease in the UK was a 22-year-old animal.

"There remains a legal obligation to cull this animal because she is directly linked to a confirmed BSE case and may have been exposed to the same contaminated feed," he added.