Category: Stories

Steve took an obstacle course option to avoid cattle on public footpath

Incident number: 1184

Response ID: 316,374,502

Date of incident: 24.08.25

Location: Public footpath off A489 at rear of Montgomery Water next to Ditch/River Camlad

Status: Lone walker with no dog on PRoW

Steve’s account

“I entered the field from the stile and the public footpath was shown on AllTrails as being diagonally across the field. As I got further into the field I could see there was cattle and for me to reach the exiting stile I would need to go close to them. I decided to head closer to the boundary with a low fence and a ditch to my left. As I carried on walking I could see at least one of the cattle was a young bullock (horns) and it had stopped grazing and was looking towards me. At this point I realised that I couldn’t reach the entrance before the cattle could reach me and I decided to clamber onto the other side of the fence with the steep ditch still to my left. As I walked on this side of the fence the cattle started to approach me. I carried on on the other side of the fence but it then became apparent that my right of way was blocked by a wooden rail fence which allowed the cattle to reach the water . I turned back and started retracing my steps and the cattle were now close to the fence. I had only one escape route which was to descend the steep bank and cross the ditch and clamber up the steep bank on the other side which is what I did. I had cuts and scratches from brambles on my legs, as I was wearing shorts, and soaking muddy boots. I didn’t really know if cattle were on the other side but it turned out to be sheep. I then decided to continue along the ditch on the other side to run parallel with the public footpath to see if I could pick up the footpath further along. However I then came across another field which contained cattle, They looked like Jersey’s. I decided not to enter and walked inward and along the boundary field that contained the sheep. This eventually brought me out near a farmhouse and I was able to ask permission to go through the farmyard and back to the main road. I explained what had happened and the reason why I was on the farmland. The individual I spoke to explained that the land with the bullocks on wasn’t his land and after asking if I was OK directed me in the direction I needed to go to reach my destination.”

This walker was trampled and airlifted to hospital

Incident number: 1182

Response ID: 316,347,703

Date of incident: 17.07.25

Location: Public footpath , Buriton to Petersfield Hants,

Status: Lone walker with dog on the lead on a PRoW

Nigel’s story

“While walking on the footpath with my dog on the lead , about 20 cattle became very agitated, then charged.

I was trampled underfoot , suffering 11 fractured ribs 2 small fractures to the lower vertebrae and a bruised lung. I was found by another walker and was air lifted to hospital, thankfully my dog slipped her harness and ran off.

My dog found her way home thank goodness”

Nigel says that most people are unaware of the danger and is now recovering from his ordeal. We wish him well and thank him for informing others about the potential dangers of walking in fields of cows.

Several aggressive cows charging walkers in Snowdonia

Incident number: 1180

Response ID: 316,325,882

Date of incident: 14.08.25

Location: Trail north of Llyn Gwynant campground in Snowdonia

Status: Two people walking without a dog on PRoW

Chris’s Story

“Several cows were spaced around a narrow trail. Calves were nearby. One began mooing aggressively and approached us. I shouted and waved at it and it backed away. But as we passed it tried to come up behind us. More shouting and waving allowed us to move on. We then reached a lone cow slightly down the trail who moved aggressively towards us. We started moving slowly off trail and I took out my hiking poles. It charged by wife and I jumped in front waving the poles and shouting. It stopped and retreated, allowing us to carry on. We ran into a father and son heading down the trail and warned them. Hopefully they were ok.”

Not worth taking the risk with cows on path to the beautiful St Nectan’s Glen

Incident number: 1178

Response ID: 316,243,609

Date of incident: 08.06.25

Location: Halgabron, little Clifden farm at Tintagel footpath number 554/46/1 leading from the road to woodland adjoining St Nectans glen.

Status: Single walker with dog on lead on PRoW

Sue’s Story

“I booked a week camping at little Clifden farm. The footpath leads direct from the site to woodland and a local attraction St Nectans Glen. I assumed I could walk on the path daily with my dog. However the site owner has 3 large bulls in the field which put me off using it. I had to do a 1.5 mile detour some of it on a dangerous stretch of road instead. The site owner said they are friendly, however when I stood near the start of the path they looked very large and menacing, I was not prepared to take the risk. Had I known there were bulls on the footpath I would not have booked the holiday as I had planned to walk in the woodland daily with my dog, so this somewhat ruined my holiday.”

Sue’s further beliefs

“The site owner advertises this path as a route to the scenic waterfall so should at least make the path safer. She encourages people to walk through telling them the bulls are friendly and will follow them across. She told me very young camping children were running up to them feeding them grass. This is reckless behaviour in my opinion, and an accident waiting to happen, as a farmer she should know the risk, she is charging £20 a night for camping and ignoring the safety of guests and the public.”

Bullocks far too interested in a walker to feel safe

Incident number 1179
Date: 12.08.25
Site: The estate of Garthgwynion, in Llynfant valley, near Machynlleth.
Group of bullocks
1 person, no dog


Report: “I was about to cross the last metal gate, before continuing the Welsh Coastal Path from Machynlleth to Borth, (which passes through the estate of Garthwynion,) when I found a group of bullocks assembled on the other side, right in the middle of the path. I whistled loudly with my emergency whistle, and waved my arms frantically while shouting, and the animals got scared and run away a few meters from me, enough to let me cross. As I was passing in front of them, one of the animals decided to come towards me at a fast pace, soon followed by the rest of them. I sped towards the entrance gate of the estate, which fortunately wasn’t too far away.”

“No injury luckily, but it was a frightening experience.”

Walker headbutted by cows

Report: 1176

Date: 3/8/25

Location: ///rattler.fulfilled.beaters near Long Lawford, Warwickshire

2 people 1 dog

Report: “I was walking with my partner on our normal route to walk our dog and noticed in the distance some cows on one side of the bridge that we needed to cross. There was a lady and a gentleman walking towards us who appeared to have already come from that direction. My dog was heeling next to me off lead as we passed the man and woman, though I put him onto a short lead soon after this so we could get past the cattle. (We practice this often with cattle, sheep and horses, and he is always very focused on me.) We were quite close to the herd, maybe 3 meters, and they were stationary, all on the left hand side of the bridge – about 4 young calves were closest to the bridge/river. As we were about 5 meters from reaching the bridge, one cow started to charge towards me, then moo’d, I let go of my dogs lead who ran away towards the right hand side of the bridge, and the cow headbutted me to the floor. I think another cow must have turned to look at the dog as I was suddenly surrounded by at least two cows, as I was in the floor and pinned between two cows. I stood up as quick as I could, but was still being headbutted while doing so.

I was shouting with my arms up to try and appear larger, backing away slowly and trying to get towards the bridge. Luckily I was close enough to the bridge to get through, the dog was close next to it so I could call him through, and my partner was already safe behind the barrier. They were both unharmed. During the incident I realised I had dropped my phone, so I stayed on the bridge for about 5/10 minutes to see if the herd would move. The two people who we had recently passed were at the other side of the field behind a gate and shouted if we were ok – I shouted back that we were all ok, but I had dropped my phone. I think this shouting then scared the herd who walked away towards a house. I was then safely able to retrieve my phone from the ground and go back home, noticing that I had a painful right hip and painful left shin.

My left shin is very swollen, I am able to walk ok but I needed to ice as soon as I was home. I’m unsure if the shin injury is from being headbutted or not, as I can’t remember if one or two cows were headbutting me. There is a small bruise currently though I feel it will spread due to the amount of swelling. My right hip is also bruised – I think this was from being head butted as this side is where the main cow was attacking me from.

I walk this route often and there are no signs about cows, I haven’t seen them in this part of the field before. There are horses the other side of the field and there are sometimes signs about not feeding the horses, but no signs about cows

I feel like it was completely my fault, and I shouldn’t have even tried to go near the cows with their young. I was more focused on keeping my dog in heel so he wouldn’t sniff or interfere with the cows – I didn’t even think the cows would attack, and now I feel quite stupid! Especially since my partner has been chased by cows before and fears them, the fact that two people had already walked from that direction made me feel like we would be fine. I don’t blame the cattle for protecting their young, though I wish I had been wiser. I am lucky that no one was trampled, as it was very close.”

Close call near Ilminster

Report: 1175

Date: 2/8/25

Location: Near Ilminster, Somerset. Exact location: lined.otter.trout

1 person no dog

Report from Matthew: “I saw cattle were in the field but I managed to sneak into the field and walked quietly around the edge without them noticing but as I was nearing the exit, the herd noticed me and charged – very fast and making a lot of noise! I continued walking quickly (not running) and narrowly made it to the gate and got through just before they reached me. Scary.”

Surrounded by cattle in Warwickshire

Report: 1174

Date: 2/8/25

Location: We think the path we were on was the Hanson Track, Warwickshire. If you are driving down the A3400 out of Shipston, you take the turn right signposted to Tidmington that leads to Ditchford Road – it’s a field on the right marked as a public footpath just beyond High Furze and opposite a footpath on the other side.

2 people no dog

Report: “We entered the field on the footpath and started walking across, we turned and noticed cows approaching from the other side of the field at speed. We were walking along the edge of the field. The cows closed in quickly and we could not leave the way we came in. We saw another gate and moved towards that thinking we could shut it but we could not as the gate was tied open with pink twine. Cows came through and all surrounded us closely behind the gate. They were making some noises and a few kept trying to creep closer. We were worried that at any point one or some of them could potentially charge or trample us as we were trapped by the wall and an open gate. We stood trying to appear calm for 10 mins but they were not going anywhere and we could not find a number for the farm. “

“The cows kept coming close and we had to sit on top of the gate which wasn’t very high. We felt like we were left with little choice but to call emergency services as we were fearful of walking through the crowd of cattle that had not taken their eyes off us. We were told by emergency services that we had to try and make our way through first by being noisy and trying to walk through them. Although reluctant we felt we had to follow advice and started to yell “move” loudly and clap. A few started to back off and make enough room for us to walk past them. We managed to leave the field safely but were very intimidated as this could have gone horribly wrong.”

“We learned that we may have been given bad advice by being told to be loud.”

“The only signs visible was instructing us to keep dogs on leads and stick to the edges which we did. There was no mention of cattle or how to respond. We also didn’t see the cattle when we entered the field.”

“We ended the call with the police once we exited the field but we don’t think cows should be in a field labelled as a public footpath especially when there are lone walkers and dog walkers. We don’t want this to happen to others who may be elderly or more vulnerable (or less lucky!!)”

Walker trampled in Rishton, Lancashire

Report: 1172

Date: 30/7/25

Location: It took place on the Public Right of Way, continuous with Cut Lane in Rishton, Lancashire. What3words: retail.face.holly

1 person 1 dog

Report: “I was walking my dog on a lead on the public right of way approaching the bridge which leads past Cut Lane Farm. I was aware that there were cows with calves in the field, close to the track which is the public right of way. I heeled my dog close to me on my left hand side, away from the cattle. Suddenly, a group of cows turned towards us and charged. I was headbutted, thrown to the ground and was then trampled by several cows. I was screaming for my life and believed that I was going to die. I have sustained severe bruises to my legs, arms, chest and foot, and have received medical care for a suspected broken rib. Fortunately, my dog managed to escape across the cattle grid and seems unscathed.”

“I have severe bruising to my legs, arms, foot and chest. I am keen walker and runner, but now I am now frightened of walking/running in the countryside. I was treated in A&E, probable fractured rib.”

“There was a warning sign saying “Bull in field” and a sign saying “No dogs allowed on farmland” or something to that effect.”

“I have reported this attack to the police and HSE.”

“I would like to see cows, especially those known to pose a threat and those with calves, cordoned off from public rights of way.“

Chased by cattle on an exposed part of the Cornish Coastal Path

Report: 1167

Date: 26/7/2025

Location: Coastal path in North Cornwall, near Castle Point, St Gennys

1 person and dog

Report: “The cows ran to me and surrounded me, chasing my dog into a blackthorn bush over the cliff edge and also surrounding me. I stood my ground but had to shout at them to get a way out.

My dog was stuck in the blackthorn, but was lucky to be unharmed, I managed to get her out. She was less than a foot off from going over the edge of the cliff

The cows should not have been on such an exposed path. I am confident around cows so could deal with them. But the incident was very frightening, they were after my dog and very nearly killed her by forcing her off the cliff.”

“Cows with calves should not be put on fields with footpaths”

Report:1166

Date: 26/7/2025

Location: Grid Ref (start): SK08765494 Grid Ref (end): SK08735454 Footpath Grindon, Staffordshire

Group of walkers with dogs

Report: “Half the group, including a dog on a lead, walked through the field with no incident. We all gave the cows and calves a wide berth.

2 of the party were further behind with another dog on a lead. One cow spotted the second dog and became extremely aggressive. The walkers backed away and let go of the dog. The cow charged at the dog and chased it until it ran out of the field. The walkers managed to get out of that field without being hurt but it was close to being an incident with injury. We then had to find an alternative way for them to reach the village out if sight of the cows.

I will be reporting to this to the Local authority, but it is not easy to find out how to report these incidents. I don’t think cows and calves should be put in fields with public footpaths, the risks are too high.”

Chased by cattle on The Cotswold Way

Report: 1164

DATE: 23/6/2025

Location: A field just off of Church Road in Cheltenham Gloucestershire, part of the Cotswold Way

3 people, 2 dogs

Report: “The cows were all the way on the far side of the field away from the gate that we were walking towards. We entered the field and started walking towards the next gate which would take us into the next field (without cows) to continue along the Cotswold Way. The cows started staring at us and flicking their tails, we kept calm, our dogs were kept on leads the whole time, they were not provoking or paying attention to the cows. The cows started to walk over slowly, we became a bit wary of this.

We almost got to the next gate and one cow started charging at me. Our group unfortunately split because we panicked and ran a bit away from it. We were now far from exit routes within the field and started to calmly walk back to the nearest one, the dogs still were not provoking it or doing anything to rile the cows. Then out of nowhere they charged at us, and there were around 20 cows in this field; they all started charging, the three of us got split, one of us ran towards the original exit and the other two of us ran other ways. All of these cows were suddenly charging towards one person, and luckily her and her dog got out of the gate, if she had been 3 seconds slower they would have trampled her and as there were so many of them I think the outcome would have been bad.

I luckily scrambled under a barbed wire fence into the second field as there was no way I could have walked safely out from that field. The third person managed to scramble over a fence because they didn’t have a dog. The cows stayed waiting at the fence staring at us.”