Injuries – Page 5 – Cattle Safety

Charged at by a herd in Derbyshire

Report number: No. 749

Date of Incident 12 08 23

Location: Cliff Farm, Elton, Derbyshire. On public footpath.

Single person, no dog

When I entered the field the cattle and bull were lying down mostly at the bottom of the field a good distance away from me and the footpath. I didn’t see any young with them. As I started walking across the field they stood up and one started making an awful, aggressive sound. I continued calmly, didn’t change direction or pace and kept walking away from them.

There were a couple of cows very close to the footpath, they let me pass without any problem. I heard more noise, looked back and they were starting to walk quickly towards me, so I sped up as the field is quite big. When I looked back again they had start running towards me along with the two I had recently passed by. So I had to run!

I just made it to gap in the wall before the closest one reached me. I dived through and my ankle caught in the gap and fell. I hurt my ankle, shin and knee as I fell. It was a terrifying experience, the gate very close by was wide open and they could have come through there so I was still terrified as I crossed the next field. Thankfully, they stayed at the wall and continued to make aggressive noises.

Additional note – I had walked through another field previously with cattle (grid ref – SK21972 61197) I don’t know if it belongs to the same farm. This was a much smaller field and they had young with them. The cows didn’t mind me walking through, even though I had to walk straight through the herd and I had no issues, however I did notice as I was a good way over the field that there was a massive bull in there too with no signage anywhere. If it’s the same farm, it makes me think it’s a farmer with a bad attitude to walkers and rights of way.

Nicky’s story – one of the cows started pawing the ground…

290,885,628 report number 786

Incident date 31/3/2020

Dipton (County Durham) DH9 9JY

I was out for a walk with my husband and 2 children (age 7 and 9) and we climbed over a stile into a field we normally walk through that is a public footpath. There was a herd of cows and calves in the field about 50 metres away. We stood still and discussed if we should walk through them.

Whilst we were stood there, one of the cows started pawing its hoof at the ground and the next moment was charging at us. The children and my husband were able to run and climb the stile, but as I ran, I fell to the floor. (We were unsure if this was due to impact from the cow or if I fell over a hole in the ground.)

I laid on the ground bracing myself waiting for the impact of the cow but thank goodness it didn’t come and I looked up to see the cows udders above me. My husband ran to me and then, thank goodness, the cow walked away. The children were screaming.

My foot was injured and swelled up immediately and I was unable to weight bear. I should have attended A&E that day but due to covid I was reluctant but I attended the following day and had an x-ray. Initially it was thought to be fractured but this was ruled out and I had a moon boot on my foot and was unable to drive for a few weeks after the incident. I had some physiotherapy sessions.

Comment: After the incident I was in shock and looked to see who I could report it to but my understanding was that there was no-one I could report to as I hadn’t had a serious injury or been taken straight to hospital. Every time I passed the site, I saw people and children walking in the same field as the cows and I just felt I had to do something. I managed to track down the farmer and told him about the incident. He was horrified and asked me to identify the cow so he could remove the cow from the herd. He also put a warning sign up at the entrance to the field to warn that cows with calves can be dangerous.

Julie’s dog George is trampled by cattle

291,957,814 report number 793

Date of attack: 07/10/2023

Where: In the first field off Cliff Lane towards Cliff Farm on the footpath between Alport and Elton in the Derbyshire Peak District what 3 words ///improvise.sneezed.warned

I was walking across on the footpath with George on a lead, the cows were in the corner of the field near stile into next field.

They came walking towards me, George panicked. I shouted at them to move back and George ran in front of me to protect me and one of the cows trampled him.

George was trampled underfoot by one of the cows, he screamed in pain when he was trodden on by the hooves. We took him to the emergency vet to be checked over and to have an ultrasound scan for internal bleeding. He is bruised and sore but we are fortunate there is no internal damage it could have been a lot worse. The vets bill was over £500 for scans and pain medication.

Several accounts from Pennard, nr Swansea – are visitors safe?

Read the tales of cattle incidents – bitten walkers, charged at golfers, stampeded schoolchildren, scared tourists

The National Trust look after the land around Pennard, Southgate and Three Cliffs Bay, on the Gower Peninsula, South Wales. There is common land across this region and cattle have rights to roam freely over this small tourist hotspot. There is a golf course at Pennard adjoining the common land and the cattle roam across this also.

This is spectacular landscape, Swansea tourist board name this as one of the most photographed areas in Gower. The tourist board suggest several walks that can be taken around here and the Welsh Coastal Path traverses the area. This region sees a high number of visitors.

But neither the National Trust nor the Swansea Tourist Board warn of the dangers posed by the cattle.

We have identified 9 reports of stampedes or threatening and aggressive behaviour by the cattle in this region; our first report is from 2021, but the other 8 are from 2023, all were placed by members of the public onto Killer Cows reporting site. These reports provide evidence that these cattle are behaving in a way that is dangerous to the public. Most of these incidents are not being followed up by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and without our site would not have been connected and the danger may have been missed. We need a central database that people can report all incidents too, so dangerous cattle can be identified before someone is killed or badly injured!

Killer cows believe that all of these attacks and incidents could have been extremely serious. Not one school child, walker or tourist or golfer did anything wrong – surely they should expect to be safe on such a famous, well-frequented, coastal footpath area?

Jules story: Attack on the Isle of Wight walking route.

saved by a quick thinking postman

288,999,605 incident number 758

On the 24th August 2023 Jules was walking with her husband near St Lawrence, on the Isle of Wight Coastal Path, a popular walking route for ramblers. No dog was involved on this walk.

The path passed through a gate into a field where there were several cows and calves. The couple passed through the gate and found themselves surrounded by the cattle. They managed to get the cattle to back away, when suddenly one cow charged and knocked into Jules’s husband and pushed Jules to the ground.

C.S story: a family chased by cattle.

The whole herd moved towards us and began to charge.

On the 30th July, 2023, my family and I were walking near Denbigh on a signed public footpath which turned across a field, again clearly signposted. I was with my son, daughter, daughter-in-law, and four year old grandson.

Nick’s Story: trampled by an attacking cow

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.

Sharn’s story: trampled by a herd of cows

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.

Paula’s Story: chased by Belted Galloway cattle

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.

Category: Injuries