Dog-walking woman trampled to death by cows
A woman in Yorkshire, northern England, has been trampled to death by a herd of cows while out walking her two dogs.
Police believe the cows, which were with their recently born calves, were startled by the dogs and acted to protect their young, charging her and surrounding her before she could escape from the field.
“She was surrounded by a herd of cattle and calves and, as a result of dogs being present, the cattle reacted in an aggressive manner,” a spokesman for North Yorkshire police said.
The woman had been walking with her two dogs near Wensleydale on the popular Pennine Way. Both of the dogs ran off and were unhurt.
A local guesthouse owner, Judith Hynes, told the Guardian that many people didn’t realise how dangerous cattle could be – especially when they feel threatened.
“Cattle will protect their young and feel threatened by dogs,” she said. “People’s first reaction is to gather the dogs close to them to stop them being hurt when the cattle crowd in.
“But they’d be better letting the dogs off the lead. They can fend for themselves and get out of the way. It’s the dogs the cattle are usually concerned with, not the owners.”
The woman’s death is the latest in a series of cattle-related fatalities in the UK in recent months.
Last year 45-year-old Sandra Pearce died after being attacked while dog walking in a Suffolk village.
And last July a 65-year-old man was trampled to death by a herd of cows while walking his dog in a field near his home in Wigan.