Category: Stories

We can’t walk on footpaths as blocked by cattle in Lower Weare Somerset

Incident number: 1216

Response ID: 318,553,250

Date of incident: 23.11.25

Location: Lower Weare, Somerset, the public foot path just by the primary school, 2nd field in, (what 3 words /// lurching.truly.relocated)

Status: Single walker with dog on lead on PROW

Gino’s story

“The first field by the school sometimes has female cows, the next field after the gate has a feeding area right by the gate & is 3 large fields joined & it’s always full of bulls not sure how old but there very big, they might be bullocks, we got chased by them as they were blocking the foot path & exit, there is another field round here the same happened, you can’t seem to use any of the public foot paths all the fields are always filled with bulls, got chased by about 20 previously at another spot I’ll also report”

Trampling Incident involving serious injuries In Dorset. (Near Morden)

Incident number: 1215

Response ID: 318,377,455

Date of incident: 6.11.25

Location: Near Morden, Dorset, (WTW ref is chuckling.pounces.pianists)

Status: Between 3 to 5 people with dogs on lead on PROW

Michael’s story

“We were on the public bridleway that crosses the field onto Wareham heath. Cattle and calves were about 50 meters away and peaceful. Two dogs with us were quiet and on leads. It is a path we have walked many times. Suddenly a single cow left the group and began trotting towards us. We hurried to reach a gate onto the heath but the cow started galloping and slammed straight into me, knocking me down and partly trampling my back and legs. The others in my group managed to avoid being attacked.”

Michael went to A and E. He has severe ligament damage to leg, severe bruising to muscles in leg, back and shoulder. Fortunately the other members and the dogs were not harmed.

Michael adds

“The farmer contacted me next day and was very apologetic, also said he was “surprised” by the incident. He said he immediately moved all the cattle from the field and confined the offending cow inside a barn, promising that it would never be put in a field with a footpath again. (He was able to identify which animal did it, as he only had two of the Hereford crosses among a field containing mainly mixed breed beef cattle.) In an ideal world all cattle should be separated from humans and dogs by means of electric fencing on public rights of way, but I recognise the practical limitations of making this a 100% rule.”

A terrifying experience that could have been a lot worse

Incident number: 1213

Response ID: 317,470,880

Date of incident: 26.10.25

Location: Footpath near the town of Eye in Suffolk, a few fields away from the playing field/par

Status: Two people with dog on lead on PROW

Holly’s story

“Footpath we were following passed through a field with cows in. My husband went in first on his own and they seemed very friendly and inquisitive, coming right up to him. I had our dog on a short lead, she is a small dog and wasn’t barking or being aggressive. I went to enter the field and after a couple of steps a large female cow tried to tip me over from behind. I didn’t fall over but let go of the dogs lead by accident. When I turned around I saw the herd of about 20 cows all charging after our dog. I was terrified they would trample her. She is quick and so managed to out run them an get over to the far corner of the field. I ran around the edge of the field to reach her, picked her up and then ran to the nearest gate to get out. The cows were quickly following us and we only just got out in time. A terrifying experience that could have been much worse, I’ve never experienced aggression from cows like that before. Some of the cows looked a little bit smaller so perhaps were young ones which would explain the aggression.”

A close shave in Shotley Suffolk

Incident number: 1212

Response ID: 317,461,846

Date of incident: 26.10.25

Location: Between end of Wades Lane and River Orwell at Shotley, Suffolk

Status: Two people without dog on PROW

Dee’s story

“Cows circled us, one with horns butted my husband several times. We tried to stay next to the hedge. The cow wouldn’t leave us alone. The other cows followed but ran ahead. We turned towards the gate and ran, cow came after us. I fell over, went into full panic attack mode. My husband stayed calm and helped me to the gate. It was a close shave, I felt they were on the verge of stampeding.”

Dee adds “Cows shouldn’t have been there. They were aggressive and dangerous”

Leaping over a stile to escape cattle on Oxfordshire

Incident number: 1209

Response ID: 317,262,717

Date of incident: 15.10.25

Location: Between East Hagbourne and Blewbury in Oxfordshire (What 3 words ///gala.flopped.charities)

Status: Lone walker with dog on lead on PROW

Helen’s story

“I needed to cross the field to get home… no close alternative route. I walked with the dog on the lead on the public footpath and the cows started walking towards me. I stayed calm and tried to make my self big and loud, they stopped. This went on a few times and then they all started running at me. I let the dog off the lead and ran to the stile behind me. I had my foot on the first step when they reached me so I had to launch myself head first over the other side so not to hit by them. I injured my face, bruising to my nose, grazes on my forehead, small cuts on my hands and have a significant bruise on my inner thigh. My thigh is very painful so I will possibly have to attend minor injuries just to rule out any hairline fractures. Very shaken and upset afterwards. Took a long time to walk home with injury.”

She adds “A separate footpath. I have seen many people running from cattle in this field and it’s a real danger.”

Cotswold Way walk cattle blocking exit routes.

Incident number: 1208

Response ID: 317,248,049

Date of incident: 10.10.25

Location: On The Cotswold Way. On the approach to Winchcombe just before Puck Pit Lane GL54 5JQ

Status: Two people with dogs on lead on PROW

“We were walking on The Cotswold Way. The two of us entered a very large field with two very quiet, placid dogs, both on leads. Due to the steep topography of the field we couldn’t see the cattle initially and also couldn’t see the direction of the path and where the exit gate was. It was a very large area, consisting of two connecting fields which were not very visible and the exit gate was not very obvious. As we headed over the top of the first field we then saw a small group of young, black bullocks eating at a trough. We couldn’t see where the path went but decided to give the cattle a wide berth and, as they were busy eating, they looked docile and ok to walk past at a distance. As we continued, the field then dipped down towards a dividing ditch and then into a second connecting field. We then noticed one of the cows at the trough had taken an interest in us and was walking quickly towards the bridge over the ditch to the second field. We were lower down and had to cross the ditch without a bridge as we were avoiding the cattle. We still didn’t know where the exit gate was and where the path went. As we crossed the ditch into the second field we then saw a second group of black young bullocks but they seemed far enough away in the corner but then we realised they were close to the exit gate which we could now see. However, these cattle started mooing which I knew was a bad sign. At the same time the bullock who had taken an interest, was now running into the second field towards us and was now bringing the first group with him. We were both really scared but tried not to panic. We walked quickly but quietly. By this time the second group were becoming increasingly interested. We were terrified by this point but just managed to push our dogs under the barbed wire and clamber over the gate before the cattle got to us. At this point the gate was surrounded by both groups of cattle. We had reached safety just in time but we then saw two runners in the field coming towards the gate. They stopped and looked very apprehensive. We tried to distract the cattle and kept them looking at us rather than the runners and they were eventually able to get through them and over the gate. We knew there were more walkers behind us on the Cotswold Way route and we just hope they managed to get through these fields ok.”

They want “More rights of way paths fenced off from cattle, especially routes that are regularly walked, such as The Cotswold Way and other long distance trails. These incidents are becoming more and more common and are really terrifying.”

How these people were not more seriously hurt is a miracle!

Incident number: 1207

Response ID: 317,241,171

Date of incident: 14.10.25

Location: West Calais Hill, Canterbury. (What 3 words Utensil.strapping.definite)

Status: Two people with dogs on leads

Our reporter’s story

“The cows spotted us across the field and came at reasonable pace towards us, we gave them a wide berth with the dogs on short leashes, and as we funnelled to access the gate to exit the field a cow behind me pushed me to the ground, face first, and the group proceeded to trample me and my dog. I let go of the dog, he escaped to the next field. I proceeded to be thrown about under the herd, the ground was wet so I was sliding across the floor keeping myself face down. My brother sent his dog to the next field and pushed himself into the trampling cows to get them off of me, they retreated.”

“ I experienced many bruises to limbs and back from kicking, and a lot of blood, facial swelling, nose trauma and broken lip, bruised ribs. The dog was stomped on but is not currently showing any signs of injury, he is being monitored closely.”

They add “The farmer owns many alternate non public access fields, it would be reasonable for the use of public access fields to be a last resort. More apparent warnings that cattle are present. Water troughs to be far from public access gates. Alternative means of escape, as we got stuck after the attack in a small gated area between two adjacent herds. And ideally an apparent method of contact in the case of an emergency.”

Sprint to Ugborough Beacon to avoid aggressive cow

Incident number: 1206

Response ID: 317,153,345

Date of incident: 7.10.25

Location: Near South Brent Devon(What 3 words ///nuggets.inspects.owns)

Status: Lone walker with dog on lead on PROW

Reporter’s story

“I was walking my 7 month old golden retriever, there were some cows about 150 away to the left. Passed several cows and had no problems. The cow started making a move towards us, we went the other way and it galloped straight up to us in a standoff. It started snorting and shaking its head then went for my dog, my dog lashed back in self defence which stunned the cow. We made a swift getaway having to run through unpathed bogs.

Once we got around 200m the cow appeared to make its way towards us, so we had to full on sprint towards Ugborough beacon to get shelter if it did come again”

Coast to coast walk with cow out of control and three people hurt

Incident number: 1204

Response ID: 317,027,670

Date of incident: 29.09.25

Location: The coast to coast main walking route 1 mile west of Reeth, North Yorks.

Status: A large group of between 6 and 10 people with no dog on main PROW

Coast to Coast Path near Reeth report

“This is the main and very popular coast to coast trail which we were walking west to east.

We had reached Healaugh and the farm adjoining the path: the brown heifer was by the passenger window of the farm jeep, so close that one in our party commented “after food”. The cow spun around, snorted and charged head-down the front three of our party, knocking over all, before wheeling around and charging a fourth who was by the dry stone wall, with a glancing blow. The driver/farm hand had by now descended the jeep and the cow was brought to a standstill only some 5 yards away, still clearly agitated. One female was bruised fairly heavily in the shin area by the cow’s hooves.

The incident came as a shock to us, chiefly because there were no calves involved, nor any dog. “

Update from reporter “I had returned to work but other walkers remained on the coast to coast walk . Apparently, the farmer caught up with them on the path leaving Reeth the next morning: apologies were profuse; allegedly, the cow took 6 hours to move, a vet was called, it may have had Grass Staggers syndrome, he hoped it would have died and he attended the same Richmond school where the deputy head tragically lost his life to cows. Also, the incident wasn’t actually on his land and he has signs up on his clearly marking an alternative non-cattle route for walkers.”

A near miss near Great Barford (Bedford)

Incident number: 1203

Response ID: 317,000,654

Date of incident: 28.09.25

Location: Great Barford. Not far from Bedford. Public footpath near the river

Status: Four people (2 children) with no dog on PROW

Alesya’a story

“We walked on a path near the river. Walked to the end of the field, a group of what appeared to be young cows were quite far away in another corner. We simply walked. No dog. Two young kids (5 and 10). Suddenly we seen cows start to run. There was nowhere for us to run or hide so we stepped to the edge of the river bank near a tree with an intention to jump in the river should cows attack. The cows surrounded us and kept coming so close I even petted one of the cows as I tried to calm the situation down and tried to somehow show the cows we are not a threat. There was one that looked like young bull. We were properly surrounded for about 10 minutes and kids were very scared. Then somehow I managed to convince the most eager cow to let us pass, and we were able to leave.

Very distressing.”

Trapped against a tree in Devon

Incident number: 1202

Response ID: 317,000,253

Date of incident: 14.08.25

Location: At Long Ash near Yelverton Devon

Status: A couple on a PROW

Myra’s story:

“We were walking towards a cow, giving a wide berth so not to be too close on the footpath. As I began walking past, it suddenly started to charge towards me. I ran backwards got trapped up against a hawthorn tree and I  tore my t-shirt.

I am too anxious to walk our dog there now alone. It was a very scary experience. The cows are huge and dread to think if it had made contact the injuries I would have sustained.

I think you should have warning signs put up in the area. I see lots of elderly and young children walking in the area.”

Significant cuts and bruises and a visit to A and E after cattle charged on two castles walk near Sherborne Dorset

Incident number: 1201

Response ID: 316,811,621

Date of incident: 17.09.25

Location: Near Sherborne Dorset (grid ref ST 661 176 on walk 582 (Two Castles) on the walking world website at waypoint 14)

Status: Couple with no dog on PROW

Paul’s story

“The cattle were grazing about 100 yards right of us as we entered the field via a kissing gate. We were very cautious quiet and non-threatening by walking further from them to the left of the path. The lead animal spotted us and started strolling purposefully in our direction followed by the rest c20/30 of them. They gathered pace and it became obvious they were running our way so we ran towards the barbed wire fence on our right. By this time the whole herd were upon us with one animal jumping in the air with its legs outstretched! I cleared the fence but had to literally drag my wife to safety. We could see an open gate about 30 yards along this fence where the cattle started heading so they could run around and attack us in the field we’d just escaped into. Fortunately there was another closed gate into another field slightly further on and we managed to get there before them. I managed to bundle my wife over this gate to safety. The cattle gathered aggressively on the other side of this gate as we got over it. My wife sustained significant cuts and bruises to both legs and we ended up in Yeovil A&E where she got a tetanus booster. As we walked away from the incident we stopped a farm worker in an adjacent field to report this incident. He stated that “cattle don’t charge” and that other walkers had passed across safely that day. He did however promise to report the incident to his boss. We told him that there was a significant danger to safety and it could result in a fatality but he said we should have just shouted at the cattle and they’d have stopped. This is in my view very high risk advice since if they don’t stop you’d be trampled to death!”

Paul adds “There were probably other fields these cattle could have grazed. That should be considered. Also warning signs!”