Category: Near-miss Stories

Near-miss story – Nigel’s Tale

30-40 bullocks charged towards him at full gallop on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path

Last April, 2016, I had a frightening encounter with a group of bullocks in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

I was walking along the coastal path between Angle and Pembroke. It was a public footpath and well signposted. A herd of 30 or 40 bullocks slowly started to walk towards me. Then one broke into a trot and before long they were all charging towards me at a gallop.

There was nowhere I could escape to. The field was very large and long, with a hawthorn hedge and a steep drop into the sea on one side, and a high security fence on the other.

My only option was to run towards the cattle shouting and waving my arms.

Thankfully they stopped and I was able to walk away to safety. I dread to consider what would have happened if I had not decided on this option.

I didn’t see any warning signs when I entered the field, and I didn’t have a dog with me.

Luckily I wasn’t hurt, and I didn’t report the incident to anybody.  I do appreciate that farmland is there to be used by livestock, but it was very frightening, and since then I have become very cautious of cattle. They are very unpredictable.

 

 

 

Near-miss story – Maddi’s Tale

Maddi escaped by hiding under a tree. A terrifying experience.

In April this year, three of us were walking on a public footpath through Tring Park, in Herefordshire. There was a sign on a gate that warned us to be careful of cows, especially with dogs. We didn’t have a dog with us, so we weren’t particularly worried.

Suddenly, a herd of cows came over a hill and began running straight towards us. They had calves with them.

We ran away, but they chased us. To try to escape, we turned off the path and hid under a tree. The cows stopped on the path and began walking slowly towards us. They started to surround the tree. We were terrified.

Slowly, we started to walk away (instead of running). Thankfully they didn’t follow us.

When we got near the gate out of the field, and thinking we were safe, we stopped to talk. Suddenly, the cows suddenly started running at us again. We raced to the gate and managed to get away.

We didn’t have a dog with us, so there was no reason for the attack. I have no doubt that if we hadn’t got out of their way by hiding under the tree, they would have trampled us.

Luckily nobody was hurt, but we were badly frightened. Afterwards we reported it to the Woodland Trust (who own the park), but as far as we know there has been no further investigation.

More people should be aware of how dangerous cows can be. Possibly we need to fence off paths when they pass through a field of cattle.

 

Near-miss story – Maxwell’s Tweet

One man went walking with his dog. Next minute, he was running for his life.

One man went walking with his dog, and happened to enter a field of cows. Next minute, he was running for his life.

He captured the terrifying incident on his smart phone and, later, posted it on Twitter as a lesson to others.

“This happened at Pishiobury [near Welwyn Garden City]. I just cried and ran. My dog had to fend for himself. Literally the worst thing ever.”

Listen to it with the sound turned on.
Video on Twitter
Cattle attack, filmed on smartphone, posted to Twitter

Posted with the permission of @JMaxwell.

Near-miss Story – Ilse’s Tale

Ilse and her husband meet a bull on the narrow Pembrokeshire Coastal path.

I live in Belgium and was in Wales with my husband on a four-day hiking holiday along the famous Pembrokeshire Coastal Path. On the 13th July, 2017, we set off from Milford Haven, heading for a B&B in Dale. 

We were near St Ishmaels. There was just the two of us, and we didn’t have a dog. We had just passed some old bunkers, and the path was narrow with lots of shrubs. To the left was the cliff and the sea. To our right was a barbed wire fence and a meadow.

Suddenly we saw a bull. Behind him were several cows. They were right on the path. The bull was making a lot of noise.

 We were so frightened. Shaking like leaves.

 Luckily, there was a nearby gate, and we could escape through the gate and into the meadow. Safely on the other side of the fence, we took a photograph of the bull (see above).

 Suddenly, he turned around and went away, just as if he wanted to return back to the farm. Thinking it was safe, we left the meadow and started back along the path. To our horror, the bull and the cows returned. We were so scared, in shock, and almost paralysed by fear, but we managed to escape through the fence again.

Eventually the animals left. We were too frightened to go forwards, so we turned back and tried to make our way from there to St Ishmaels. We walked for miles and miles. Got lost. Eventually we had to catch a bus in order to get to our B&B in Dale.

 We weren’t injured, but we were very badly scared.

The strange thing about is that the bull and the cows were actually on the very narrow coastal path, and we had to escape into the meadow. It should have been the opposite way round!

 Suppose we had encountered the bull at another point, where the coast path then was even narrower, and where there was no fence to get safely behind? On our left side were cliffs. What would have happened?

 I didn’t report the problem at the time, but later I sent some pictures of the beautiful coast in Wales to http://www.pembrokeshirecoast.org.uk/ and I also sent the bull picture and our story of the bull in the neighbourhood of St Ishmael’s. I got an answer from a lady called Rebecca Evans, and she told me she will be meeting the farmer next week.

 As walkers, we know there is advice on how to walk across a large field with livestock, such as cows, bulls, ponies, etc. But being confronted by a bull and cows on a narrow path with no way out… what is the advice for that specific situation?