Incident number: 998
Response ID: 307,430,357
Date of incident: 17.09.24
Location: Dartmoor Nearest village: Gidleigh (What three words careful.showrooms.studio)
Status: Two people with dog on lead on PRW
Anonymous report “We were on a footpath on a remote part of Dartmoor a couple of miles away from Scorhill stone circle, just to the north west of Rival Tor. We had previously passed 2 groups of black cows without incident. We saw the cow ahead, not far from the path. It started running aggressively towards us. My husband stood firm and bellowed at it, also waving his walking stick. I walked on with our dog still on a short lead while there was a stand-off between my husband and the cow. The cow started to shake its head which we knew was a sign of danger. Worried it was about to charge him, my husband started to walk away at which point it started running around towards me. I had let the dog off at this point as thought this was best. Luckily the cow stopped and there was another standoff. Fortunately it then lost interest as we walked away. It was particularly frightening as there was nowhere for us to escape to – no hedge, no stream, no gully, just open featureless moorland.”
Further thoughts “There was a sign by the car park from the Gidleigh Commoners Association. FOR YOUR SAFETY PLEASE KEEP YOUR DISTANCE FROM ALL CATTLE ESPECIALLY WITH CALVES – went on to give more info about precautions and danger signs, the final advice was, amid danger signs eg cows shaking heads and pawing ground “to retire as calmly and quickly as possible” and then “if a cow actually offers (sic) to attack you let any dog off the lead and the cow may focus interest on the dog while you retreat calmly” The problem is – where do you retreat to in open moorland where there are no fences/boundaries???”
Cattle Safety 