Officers who hit an escaped cow with a car “probably did the right thing at the time” according to one union chief and farmer.

A video showing a police car hitting the calf on Friday night on a residential street in Staines-upon-Thames caused widespread outrage.

Surrey Police confirmed on Sunday the driver of the car had been removed from frontline duties.

Hugh Broom, National Farmers’ Union’s South East livestock chairman, said while he recognised the situation looked “horrendous”, officers’ options were limited.

He told BBC Radio Surrey: “While the whole thing looks horrendous, and it is for everyone, they probably did the right thing at the time.”

The farmer said other options open to the force may have been shooting it or using a tranquiliser dart, though the latter would need proper training.

Mr Broom said: “The other option is you shoot the animal.

“In that environment would you want to be using a rifle in a built up area on a dark Friday night?”

On Sunday, the cow’s owner said the animal was recovering.

And according to a report in The Sun the cow was “back on her feet”.

The force previously said the matter had been referred to its professional standards department, and a voluntary referral would be made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

Mr Broom added: “God forbid it had gone the other way and the animal ran off and bumped into someone, sent a child flying, sent any person flying, [which is] perfectly possible, and they were seriously injured or worse.

“People would be saying: ‘Why wasn’t the animal stopped?'”

Deputy Chief Constable Nev Kemp previously said police had unsuccessfully tried to contact local vets and identify the owner before the incident.

He added: “As well as our overriding duty to protect the public, the welfare of animals is important to us and we know people want answers about how this happened and what led up to it.

“I am committed to ensuring that we have a full understanding of what took place and why, and we will fully support any investigation.”

Mr Broom said the “perfect thing” would be a register of all farmers and animal owners in an area in order to be able to contact people in such a situation.