Environment

Those who enjoy hiking through nature notice that some paths sometimes pass through a pasture with cattle. But it turns out that this is not without danger. Beware if you have your dog with you!

Already on June 27, a 40-year-old woman was killed while hiking with her dogs in the Gasteinertal Valley in Austria. The cows, which have strong maternal instincts, “saw the dogs as a threat to their calves,” the local press reported. They then attacked the small group of hikers. The 40-year-old mother of the family, a local resident, sadly lost her life as a result of this violent attack. Her two daughters (ages 20 and 23) managed to escape and quickly reported the incident to emergency services. 

In late August, a 67-year-old man was killed while walking in Spaubeek in the Dutch-Limburg municipality of Beek when he was attacked by a herd of cows. The man was walking with his dog through the pasture, which is accessible to walkers through swing gates, when he was suddenly trampled underfoot by the herd of cows. The Dutch sixty-something did not survive that attack. More than likely, the animals wanted to protect their calves from the dog and the man. In fact, after the incident, the herd of cows again showed aggressive behavior toward hikers and the victim's relatives who came to the spot to mourn. 

Then again, in England, police launched an investigation into the death of a young woman. The 29-year-old woman was walking her dog in the meadows near Riverside Way in Littlethorpe, Leicester, on the evening of July 9, 2022. When she spotted some cows, she decided to take a picture and forward it with the caption “cowz. However, that was the woman's last sign of life. She was found badly injured in the pasture not much later by some local residents. They tried to resuscitate her, but were unsuccessful. The woman had hoof marks on her chest and shoulder and an injury to her liver, which led to her death from internal bleeding.

(FVDV for Tagtik/Illustration picture: Image by Ilona Ilyés from Pixabay)