Incident number: 1003
Response ID: 307,588,507
Date of incident: 27.09.24
Footpath from Rudyard to Horton (Leek Staffordshire (What 3 words : ///refilled.publisher.tech.)
Status: Lone walker with dog on lead on PRW.
Cieran’s story
“The footpath runs up the right hand side of the field. Most of the cows were away to the left of the field but there was one bullock in front of me in the first third of the field. As I got past the bullock it started to follow and pretty quickly the whole herd of 30-40 bullocks was crowding in towards me. I was backing up holding my arms out and shouting to stop them but every time I turned around to walk away more quickly they would start to run towards me until I turned around again and shouted. This became more intense and they got closer the further up the field I went. I kept the dog on a short lead through the whole event. She was frightened but did not bark and was not aggressive towards the cows. Several times I had to turn, stand and shout to stop them from trampling me. I could not climb over the wall in to the next field as the farmer has installed barbed wire along the top of the dry stone wall. When we were in sight of the exit style I ran and threw the dog over before jumping through myself. The herd raced up to wall behind me and it would be impossible to get back down the same footpath.
This is a regular issue at this spot of the footpath and I now consider it too dangerous to use as this is not the first time I have had this issue.”
Cattle Safety 