This is a story that, for me, is symptomatic of the madness that has descended upon Great Britain which makes Britain no longer great but very broken.
In a spontaneous act kindness and animal welfare – albeit retrospectively misconceived it seems – Emma Smart, 47, a marine biologist and environmentalist, grabbed a crayfish from a tank at a seafood restaurant, walked out of the establishment and headed towards the harbour where she released the animal into the sea. Free at last.
She thought it was a lobster and that the ‘lobster’ was due to be killed for consumption by the clientele. She was wrong. The crayfish she stole was a partner to another and they were both simply on display.
The owner of the restaurant, Sean Cooper, said that the both crayfish were killed by Smart. The one she saved died through thermal shock in the water he said and the abandoned partner died of the shock of being alone, he also said.
Although sad, if true, it is astonishing that the police’s response to Cooper’s report to the them (presumed a 999 call) resulting in four officers barging into her home. She was strip searched she says. Bizarre and certainly massively over the top. But typical, quite frankly, of the police in the UK. Have they got nothing better to do? Why four officers to raid her home? Why strip search the poor woman?
Dorset police say that they acted proportionately! They would. I hate the police. That hatred comes from personal experience.
Smart was convicted of criminal damage and given an 8-month conditional discharge. Yes it was crimimal damage. But really, she was driven by compassion and animal welfare. Couldn’t this have been handled more sympathetically?
She says she is the victim of a witch hunt. I agree or it is just the police being really stupid as usual. And Cooper clearly disliked her immensely.
