Jessica was walking as a couple near Taunton on 1st May 2022
“We walked into the field and the group started walking towards us then running towards. We escaped just in time by going over a stile”
Matt was running on his own near West Haddon in Northamptonshire om 18th August 2022
“I was running on a footpath. A couple of calves were startled and the herd turned on me. Tens of cows converged and stampeded me. I ran to the edge of the field and stood behind a barbed wire cordon. I had to climb into the next field to escape. I narrowly escaped being seriously injured or killed. The cows in this field are still very wary and aggressive. Other users of the footpaths have raised the issue on the village social media but have been shot down. I don’t have issues with any others herds in the area and have walked and ran through livestock for decades without similar incident.”
Location: Back Road between Sticklepath & Belstone (near Skaigh Cottage) (What three words ///trifle.partners.ambushed)
Status: Lone walker no dog on PRW
Rebeccah’s story
“I was out for a run as usual, and was heading up the road to avoid cows (as recently seen lots on the moor) however, as I turned the corner (on a single track road with houses) there was a group of cows and young cows charging down the road. I had to jump up the bank and hide. I then climbed over the barbed wire fence and crouched. The cows stopped on the road and came towards me. They stood for ages. I was terrified. I stayed still. They then turned around and had their backs to me. They moved up the road a couple of metres but just stopped. I had no clue what to do. I had already been sat there for ten minutes and had no phone signal to call for help. So I eventually braved it, jumped down on to the road and ran as fast as I could back down the hill hoping they wouldn’t chase me. I crossed the cattle grid and stopped. I injured my leg on branches but nothing major.”
“Cows ran over and crowded me from the second I got in the field, not deterred by big stick I was holding. Lots of loud and angry sounding bellowing. They surrounded me and were not backing off as I moved so it was impossible to go forward. I edged back and went around through other fields.”
K wants “Extra fencing along side of field to enable safe access, or housing cows in separate field”
“ Becki was walking on her own with her tiny Chihuahua on the lead when she was attacked and trampled by a herd of cows which included cows with calves of mixed breeds including Simmental, Limousine, Blonde D’Aquitaine, Aberdeen Angus and Limousin. She was trampled at 9.15pm and died at the scene. She was only 29 years old. The pre inquest was 21/12/2023 and the HSE have conducted a criminal investigation and served a prohibition notice on 21/07/2022. The HSE considers that a breach of the above law has occurred which is the Health and Safety at work Act 1974. Section 3 (2)
The farmer knew there was a problem as on the 1st July 2022 kids had been worrying the cattle and he reported it to the police but he did nothing to protect the public at large and our daughter was killed. She had a chihuahua called Zero who was so tiny the cows wouldn’t have even seen him because the grass was so over grown, so they attacked for no reason, or because of the incident with the kids. Becki wouldn’t have even gone anywhere near them with Zero because she would never put her baby at risk he was everything to her.
Becki’s inquest starts on the 14th October with a jury and will last 4 or 5 days.
To say the least we are totally heartbroken our daughter was our world we saw her everyday and spoke every evening before she went to bed, she had a business with her mum so as you can imagine we were so very very close.”
At killer cows we would like to say that we are so sorry for Becki’s death and her loss. We think it is very brave of David and her family to report this to us to warn others of the dangers of cattle.
David and his family add “We want farmers to be held responsible & prosecuted the same as anyone else who lets a dangerous dog or animal injure or kill an innocent member of the public”
Location: Mow Cop, Cheshire on a walk from a walk book
Status: Couple with no dog on PRW
Joyce and David’s story: They are a couple from Canada who like to come to England to walk once or twice a year. They had an incident with cattle 10 years ago and since then have become much more cautious.
“We entered a field with a small herd of bullocks (about 10-12) spread out about 40-50 metres away from us. The walk went across the field, but we decided to walk along the fence line to keep away from the bullocks. This was moor land and quite wet & muddy. The bullocks started coming towards us to have a closer look. Initially they stayed on the drier top of the field following our slow progress as we wallowed in the mud at the edge! As we neared the end where we had to cross the field to get to the stile, the bullocks kept coming closer behind us. At one stage they nudged one of us in the rear. We kept calm and kept talking to them. Eventually we got over the style with no further incident. The bullocks appeared to be more curious than aggressive. We could not move fast in the mud & they could have easily harmed us without meaning to.”
They add “We realize that it would be expensive for farmers to fence off the footpaths from cattle. Alternatively, we suggest that farmers create temporary footpaths that take walkers around their fields with cattle with appropriate signage in order to provide safe transit for walkers.”
Location: South of Newton under Roseberry in Yorkshire and South of Woodstock near Church Hanborough in Oxfordshire
Status: Two people without dog
RE’s story
“We were coming through Cliff Ridge Wood walking northwest direction, came to a lane going west towards Quarry House, soon turned (before the railway) north to walk through a couple of fields on a public footpath, in order to get back to Newton-u-R.
Once we got onto the field, a group of a dozen or so bullocks started following us, came very close and the leader was jumping in the air as if to charge. We managed to keep them at bay by waving our walking poles and my husband was walking backwards to stare at them. We climbed over a stile to the next field and the same happened again as there was another group of bullocks. We managed to leave the second field unharmed but badly frightened.”
RE reported the later spoiled walk and being badly frightened on another walk South of Woodstock near Church Hanborough in Oxfordshire, going SW from Church Hanborough towards The Green. Fields south side of The Thrift wood and east side of Elm Farm.
RE wants “Separate footpaths from fields where cattle is being kept. Ideally, no cattle to be kept on fields where a footpath is going through.”
Location: SK142589 – Peak District National Park, near Hartington at the very end of Reynards Lane (Biggin Dale end) – immediately adjacent National Trust land.
Status: Two people with no dog on PRW
Leigh’s story
“We were walking on a very popular and busy footpath – well over a dozen groups of walkers, many with dogs, had passed us in the previous 15 minutes; including the farmer himself riding a quadbike. When we came upon a gate adjacent to the footpath there were a large group of distressed cattle that had gathered at the gate, bellowing very vigorously. A number of groups of walkers had gathered there, asking each other what had caused the commotion. We carried walking along Reynards Lane towards Biggin Dale, with the herd of cattle separated from us by a dry stone wall. As we walked the herd followed us. A large bull walked behind the herd and a numbers of walkers passing in the opposite direction commented on the size of him. As we were walking a number of cows were mounting each other, while others were feeding their calves. When we got to the end of the lane, about 200m further on, which then became a footpath, we saw that the farmer had left another gate to the field wide open, along with a gate to another field on the opposite side of the lane. Some cows were crossing the lane, others with their calves were standing in the middle of the lane, completely blocking the way forward. These being the same group of cattle that had been visibly distressed not five minutes earlier, we were very anxious about pushing our way past them. We waited a while until other groups of walkers appeared from the opposite direction, who in turn waited until more groups of walkers appeared. Eventually each group felt safe enough in the presence of others to walk forward, to which the cattle gave way, while still bellowing. It’s a walk we’ve done a number of times before and the gates have never been open. It seemed perverse to us that the farmer had decided to open or leave the gates on either side of a busy path in a national park wide open, especially since he will have been very aware that his cattle were distressed. Was he deliberately trying to cause on incident or scare walkers away?”
Leigh added “Farmers to take responsibility for the safety of walkers and the wellbeing of their cattle. In this instance the herd of cows, bullocks, calves and a bull were already in a very large group of connected fields with a water tank. If the farmer wanted to move them to the fields on the other side of the lane, why didn’t he herd them across? Why did he simply leave the gates open on either side of the lane when it was clear that the path was very busy, many groups had dogs and his herd were clearly distressed?”
Location: Public footpath from Boot to Doctors Bridge Eskdale. (What 3 words ///positions.forgotten.sweeter)
Status: Two people with dog on lead on PRW
Zoe’s story
“We were walking the Inn Way to the Lakes along this path. The cows bull and calf were all against a gate we needed to get through. They were at a fence so therefore had nowhere to go apart from back towards us. We couldn’t get through the gate as they didn’t move. We had to get in the river and walk down the river to get to the other side of the gate. We did this in all gear and boots so wasn’t ideal!!”
She adds “Farmers to be prosecuted if cattle is not secured. Bulls should not be with cows and calves in public areas”
Zoe was also badly frightened by belted Galloway cattle many years ago in 1999 between Coniston and Tarn Hows
Location: South West coast path, Coverack Cornwall. TR12
Status: Two walkers with dog on lead on PRW
Davyd’s story
“Following South West coast path from Coverack to Lizard point Cornwall. Walking along public footpath with dog on lead. Started hearing what sounded like a thundering hoofs. I turned and saw about 20 cattle charging directly at us. We ran as fast as possible to the next swing gate over rocky and muddy ground just making it through in time. The whole heard were headbutting the wood gate still trying to get us. My wife was absolutely terrified as we only just made it out before we got trampled by them. I cannot believe that dangerous farm animals are allowed to be grazing on public footpath especially south West coast path. If we were older and could not move as quickly we could of been trampled to death.”
Location: Castle Howard grounds (North Yorkshire), East of the main estate and the South Lake
Status: Loan walker dog on lead on PRW
AW’s story
“On a circular running route and I wanted to take the footpath over the field. There were signs warning of cows with calves. I couldn’t see anything so I went through the gate with my dog on a short lead. The field is very hilly and you can’t see far. I approached slowly up the hill and then heard moos and noticed cows over the brow of the hill. One started mooing and the rest started to join in. I moved cautiously and slowly to the edge of the field, but they started to stand up. There was stamping and snorting – then they all started to approach. I turned and walked as fast as possible and heard them charging behind me but made it to the gate. It’s really disappointing and not the first time these particular cows have acted this way, with or without calves.”
Taken from the Castle Howard website “An Aberdeen Angus suckler cow herd was established at Castle Howard, grazing estate fields, with most of the beef being supplied to the Farm Shop.”
Footpath from Rudyard to Horton (Leek Staffordshire (What 3 words : ///refilled.publisher.tech.)
Status: Lone walker with dog on lead on PRW.
Cieran’s story
“The footpath runs up the right hand side of the field. Most of the cows were away to the left of the field but there was one bullock in front of me in the first third of the field. As I got past the bullock it started to follow and pretty quickly the whole herd of 30-40 bullocks was crowding in towards me. I was backing up holding my arms out and shouting to stop them but every time I turned around to walk away more quickly they would start to run towards me until I turned around again and shouted. This became more intense and they got closer the further up the field I went. I kept the dog on a short lead through the whole event. She was frightened but did not bark and was not aggressive towards the cows. Several times I had to turn, stand and shout to stop them from trampling me. I could not climb over the wall in to the next field as the farmer has installed barbed wire along the top of the dry stone wall. When we were in sight of the exit style I ran and threw the dog over before jumping through myself. The herd raced up to wall behind me and it would be impossible to get back down the same footpath.
This is a regular issue at this spot of the footpath and I now consider it too dangerous to use as this is not the first time I have had this issue.”
Location: The Mathern area of the Wales Coastal Path
Status: Lone walker no dog on PRW
Annette’s story
“I was not hurt or even charged, but there was a few hours of extreme anxiety of having to walk through multiple small herds of cows while being stared and mooed at as well as trying to locate my exit. Plus the ground is very difficult to traverse in a pasture so escaping quickly is not an option. One field posted a warning that there is a bull in the field. My choice was to go back through all the pastures I had just braved through or continue on. Thankfully the bull was not there that day but he recently had been. It is a large pasture to get through and no one should have to be terrified while hiking because of cattle. I’m not sure I will continue the path.”
Annette also adds wisely “Hiking solo already comes with elevated risk and some anxiety. We should not have added risk because of cattle.”
Cattle Safety 