A large female cow started to attack without warning. I was struck three times.
On the 23rd July, 2023, I was walking on a public footpath near the village of Hawkley in Hampshire (the Liss Footpath between Snailing Lane and B3006, Hawkley CP Footpath reference 109/19/1). I was on my own with my dog on a lead.
Continue reading “Nick’s Story: trampled by an attacking cow”I heard a thunder of hooves from behind, but too late to take evasive action.
In May, 2015, I was attacked by cattle – an incident that would change my life for ever.
Continue reading “Sharn’s story: trampled by a herd of cows”We share excerpts from the recent Jeremy Vine radio programme.
On the 21st July, 2023, Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio2 discussed cattle attacks on the public, and interviewed COWS member, Libby James. An animal behavioural scientist gave her views (although these views were unsupported by the evidence from our data base) and another victim of cattle, Sharn Thomas, told her story. Other people contacted the show and related their experiences, including a horse rider whose horse was attacked on a bridleway.
Continue reading “Jeremy Vine: talking about cattle attacks”Lucky to escape alive… charged by cows in a country park.
On the 3rd of April 2021, my friend and I were walking our dogs on leads in Hastings Country park. A group of belted Galloway cattle were all mingling around a gate. We saw them up ahead, way before they saw us, so we slowly turned around and started walking slowly back down the hill.
Continue reading “Paula’s Story: chased by Belted Galloway cattle”We have been collecting data since July 2017, using a self-reporting form on our website, and have amassed over 660 incidents involving walkers and cattle. Our data depends on victims finding our website and taking the time to fill in a form. It only represents the tip of the iceberg. Deaths and very serious injuries are often NOT reported, as either the victim or their family is too traumatised to relive their experiences.
Continue reading “Cattle Attacks: Headlines from our Data Report”We discuss the recent Sunday Times article. THANK YOU to everbody who had contributed their stories.
The Sunday Times recently published a long piece on cattle attacks by Siân Boyle. The article featured on the front cover of the magazine, had a full 2-page title spread inside, along with 5 pages of information and personal accounts.
Continue reading “Natural Born Killers, by Siân Boyle”Libby talks to Evan Davis on Radio 4
On Monday, 19th of June, one of our members was interviewed by Evan Davis for BBC Radio 4’s PM program. The topic was cow attacks, amid the flurry of interest since the publication of a feature on cattle attacks in the Sunday Times Magazine on Sunday.
Listen to Libby describe what happened to her…
Please report any cattle incidents to the Health and Safety Executive. They have the ability to investigate and can instruct the farmer to take action.
If I hadn’t run away, they would have trampled me for sure.
On the 5th November, 2022, I was walking on my own along a public footpath near Watermills Wood in Staffordshire. I could see around 15-20 young cows in the field, but the footpath led straight up the edge of the field to a farmhouse only about 200 metres away. It was raining heavily.
Continue reading “Seasoned Hiker: chased by aggressive cows”I suffered multiple serious injuries: fractures to neck, pelvis, arms, ribs and internal damage.
On 10 August, 2021, my husband, Mark and I were walking on the outskirts of Stockport. We were with our dog who was on his lead. He was very calm and was not pulling on his lead.
Continue reading “Jill’s Story: multiple injuries”The cows were running fast and straight at us.
On the 26th August, 2022, I took my dogs out on our regular walk. I was walking on the old railway line just outside of Trevor (LL20) and going towards Llangollen, in Wales. The railway line links to a road which goes towards the canal.
Continue reading “Narrowly missed being trampled”One of us is still suffering from an injured back.
On the 31st July, 2022, we were walking along a public footpath, leaving Slaidburn on the approach to Panes Farm, in Lancashire. We were walking on the public path with our dog on a lead, and were about 200 metres away from the field gate. Half way across the field we could see a group of cows near the gate and lying down.
Read more: SL Story: a mad scrambleWithout warning, the cattle got up and started to charge towards us. It was then we noticed there were calves in the herd. We scrambled over a gate to get out of the way – which included having to throw the dog over the gate as best we could. My husband slowed their approach by making himself large and shouting at them, but they were still in charge mode – with one being particularly aggressive.
It took us at least 30 minutes of scrambling over drystone walls and gates to reach an alternative footpath. We escaped with only minor injuries, but one of us is still suffering from an injured back caused by scrambling over walls and gates.
In our experience, when entering a field because of the lay of the land it is often too late to realise cows are in the field.
In this case, there were no warning signs. We were lucky there was no barbed wire to scale over which would have made an escape very treacherous.
Farmers should not be allowed to have cows in fields that have a public right of way running through, especially with calves.
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Cattle Safety 