Police Officers Rescue Two 'Dripping With Blood' Royal Horses In London: Everything We Know
Police officers Lucy Hawes and constable Daniel McKeown recounted their efforts to rescue runaway royal horses in London.
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Hawes, a 26-year-old officer from the City of London police, recounted the chaotic situation to The Times. They received the call around 8:40 a.m. local time on Wednesday and swiftly responded to the scene.
(Photo by Carl De Souza/Getty Images)
The incident unfolded when four horses from the Household Cavalry — Vida, Trojan, Quaker, and Tennyson — were exercising alongside three others in Belgravia, a neighborhood in London. The animals were startled by the noise of construction concrete crashing to the ground.
"We arrived at one location where they had been spotted, but found they had sped off in another direction. We U-turned in our vehicle... and were going as fast as we could... Eventually we caught up," Hawes described during an interview with The Times.
Following the Metropolitan Police's successful intervention in restraining the horses and securing them to a fence in Limehouse, east London, the officers commenced administering first aid to the animals.
"We found the two horses covered with cuts, dripping with blood — one had four gashes. They were both slick with sweat and were shaking," McKeown said. "We knew the carnage had happened behind but we didn't know what to expect when we got up there. We were covered in blood ourselves, and had to use all [of] our packets of bandages as well as the Met's too to stop the bleeding."
Reports indicate that the white horse seen running through London's streets, visibly covered in blood, was identified as Vida. Hawes described gently holding and comforting Vida in an effort to keep the distressed animal calm, despite the British Army's warning that Vida was "known to kick and bite."
Constable McKeown echoed the sentiment, expressing their primary concern for the safety of both the city's residents and the horses.
