Near-miss Stories – Page 16

Dave’s story – unprovoked attack by a cow

Response ID 292,302,524, report number 799

Date: 12/10/23

Where: Near Ashley Walk Car Park, New Forest, nearest village Godshill

While walking with my 2 Cocker Spaniels this morning near Snake road we were subjected to a sustained & totally unprovoked attack by a lone dark grey cow. We were about 25 yards from the animal & heading away from it when it suddenly charged at the dogs. It took them by surprise & almost caught one of them but the dog managed to roll away from under its hooves.

Then the cow turned its attention to me & charged. It was a truly terrifying moment as it thundered towards me, only pulling up when about a foot away. I slowly backed away as it followed wild-eyed & snorting . I moved more quickly backwards without running & eventually it lost interest & we made our escape.

My dogs were unharmed, I was badly scared.

The warning signs in the New Forest are all about not letting your dog worry livestock. Nothing about the danger to humans or dogs

This has been reported to New Forest National Park Authority

There has been a huge increase in the number of cattle in the New Forest in recent years. It has become very difficult to avoid contact with them. It would be great to have some cattle-free areas where people can walk without fear of attack.

Simons story – hunted by cattle

Response ID 291,908,092, Report number 792

Date of incident: 12/09/23

no dog lone walker

I was walking on my own on a footpath on the north side of the stream which flows east to Fordingbridge from beyond Rockbourne. I entered the large field by a stile at the east end with the exit stile at the west end. The path was parallel to a fence with stream lower down & brambles & shrubs filling the gap between the barbed wire fence & stream. The field rises on the right but stays level by the fence all the way to the exit stile. It seemed a long way on level ground to the exit in the west.

After a few steps I saw cattle grazing on the sky line near the top of the field. When I next looked one was staring at me. I avoided looking at them & walked a little faster. I looked up after a few seconds and the herd of about 10 cattle were walking down hill exactly towards me. I knew if they started to go faster I would not make it to the end. I quickened without running. I felt the ground vibrating, looked sideways & saw they were running towards me. The barbed wire fence on my left had brambles & thick vegetation behind it.

Ben was charged at by cattle

report number 783

Response ID 290,785,332

20/09/023

Lattrig, Lake District

Two of us were setting up tent on top of Lattrig at approximately 7pm. Some cows appeared and seemed interested and started coming over to investigate. The cattle started chewing on tent, which prompted us to leave, we managed to shoo the cattle out of the way and began to walk along the track downhill.

As we were walking down the hill the cattle all charged towards us, we shouted loudly and they stopped a metre before us. If we hadn’t shouted and made them stop I think they may have trampled us.

Escaped over a barbed wire fence

report number 782

Response ID 290,748,076

21/09/23

Nayland, Suffolk/Essex border.

51.96661620544016, 0.8753255126471292

I was on my own crossing a field on a public footpath, no dog with me. I had walked this path before and usually there were friendly white cows in the field that paid me no attention. This time there was a new black cow (or bull – I didn’t stop to check,) that was looking at me in a menacing manner as I approached. The herd were blocking my path to the gate on the other side, so I headed around them to use a different exit to the field. Suddenly I heard a noise that made me look behind and saw a cow charging towards me. I just managed to jump over the fence to get out of the way in time.

I caught my finger jumping the barbed wire fence escaping from the charging animal.

Cooper was pinned to the ground by cattle.

20/09/2023

on public footpath near Durham

https://explore.osmaps.com/pin?lat=54.735290373945105&lon=-1.5851990560360036&zoom=16.0

I was walking along a public footpath with Cooper,(a black lab I walk for a friend,) on a lead with a few friends. There was a mixed herd of cattle dotted around the public footpath, with a bull and some cows. One cow suddenly charged at Cooper out of the blue. I released the dogs lead and the cow instantly had him pinned to the ground, trying to gouge him. Luckily he wriggled free and ran after me. The cow didn’t pursue.

I was shaken by the incident, Cooper was bruised but no significant injuries.

I’m not really sure what could be done other than to remove the footpath or the cattle.

Killer cattle comment: If cattle have to be placed in fields with footpaths, fencing should be used to separate cattle and walkers.

report number 781

Response ID 290,726,193

Sparkwell cattle thugs

Response ID 290,510,909

report number 779

30/11/2014

In field near Sparkwell, Devon, PL21 area

I was out for a run with my dog. I was about to run through a field along a public bridleway. I saw there were about 20 cows and a few young ones at the top of the field so stopped and put my dog on a lead and continued to run across the field. As I entered the field the cows started moving towards me then started running my way. I ran to the far corner where there were steps over the fence. I arrived at the steps about the same time as the cows.

I picked my dog up and threw him over the gate as the cows hit me and pinned me against the gate. I somehow wriggled free and got over the gate. I had bad bruising on my right upper body but no lasting damage just really lucky I think. My dog was unharmed.

Killer Cattle comment: “This attack by dangerous cattle was 10 years ago and cattle attacks and scares continue – with, it seems, increasing numbers. At the date I’ve written this account up there are 806 cattle incidents reported onto our site. 421 involved NO dog, in 386 incidents there was a dog present. 341 involved a single person, 327 a couple and 120 a small group of 3-5 people.

Luckily 511 of our reports involved no injuries (but most of these were badly scared), 192 had minor injuries, 59 significant injuries, 19 suffered serious, potentially fatal injuries, 3 sadly died.

This is a serious public safety issue.”

Trevor escaped through a barbed wire fence to safety from a herd of cattle in Derbyshire

Date: 31^st May 2023

Location: Biggin village near Hulland Ward Derbyshire

I entered the field on my own without a dog, there was a fairly large herd about 150 metres away all lying down. Following a hedge on my left I tried to cross the 100 meters to reach a copse of trees on other side. Half way into the field I noticed the cattle were on their feet when I startled a pheasant. The cattle then started running toward me at surprising speed. I also tried to run for it but could not find the gate. I reached a tree and moved around it as a young large calf tried to approach. (It was in touching distance.) The rest of the herd were stopped by the low hawthorn tree I was under. Next to me there was a barbed wire fence through which I clambered into an adjacent field. I fortunately had no injuries . Later viewing the herd from a safe distance I saw that they were frisky and charging around for no obvious reason. The incident was not reported.

Incident Number: 755

Response ID: 288,882,351

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?

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.

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.

Narrowly missed being trampled

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.

SL Story: a mad scramble

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.

Without 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.

Response ID 266187259

Photo from site stock