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Farmers issue warning after fatal cow attacks


Mary

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The deaths of no fewer than four people after being trampled by cows in the past two months has prompted Britain's main farming union to issue a warning about the dangers of provoking the normally docile animals.

 

Cows can become aggressive and charge, especially when calves are present and walkers are accompanied by dogs, said the National Farmers Union (NFU).

 

The union and the Ramblers' Association both advise that walkers release dogs from their leads when passing through a field of cows.

 

"The cattle are interested in the dog, not the walker," said Robert Sheasby, Rural Surveyor at the NFU.

 

"As the cattle try to get the dog, there's a high chance they will get the walker too."

 

Britain has 7.5 million cows but in the past eight years there have only been 18 deaths involving cattle, including bulls whose dangers are well-known.

 

The current spate of attacks by cows began on the Pennine Hills on June 21, when Liz Crowsley, a veterinary surgeon from Warrington, was crushed against a wall and then trampled underfoot while out walking with her two dogs.

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The union and the Ramblers' Association both advise that walkers release dogs from their leads when passing through a field of cows.

 

odd normally they tell you to keep dogs on leads on farmland.

dogs not on leads were considered a nuisance and likely to be shot if on farm land, especially where sheep were grazing.

 

maybe it is different for cows :?

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I can understand the advice in a way if they believe it may stop a person from being trampled but I do tend to agreewith Evil Sid... a dog on a lead is controlled so you would not think that it would spook the cows as much as a free running dog :?

 

It would be hard as a dog owner to allow the stampeding cows to attack or kill your dog in the distance without trying to intervene by screaming and shouting to divert them possibly into your path :shock:

 

Maybe a more sensible idea would be to stop or ban walkers with dogs from wandering through areas which contain cows :wink:

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