Yeetle Box - Of Cows and Dogs I Sing

Four people have died after being trampled by cows in the past two months in England, prompting Britain's main farming union to issue a warning about the dangers of provoking the normally docile animals.

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 - by people and cows alike.

The current spate (yes, 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. It is said the cows are attacking the dogs. It is said...

On July 15, another attack took place in Derbyshire, when Barry Pilgrim, a 65-year old from the area, was trampled to death by a cow as his wife looked on, smiling.
Three days later, Anita Hinchey, a 63-year-old, was walking her dog near Cardiff when a cow attacked her and trampled her to death. The dog was fine.

The fourth fatal attack claimed the life of Harold Lee, a 75-year-old farmer from Burtle in the West Country. He was killed by his own herd, which may have been made nervous by the siren of a passing ambulance. His own herd! A herd he milked and talked to, fed, housed.

Apparently, the risk is especially high in the spring when many of the calves are only a month or two old and the mothers are therefore especially protective, the NFU said.
"It's to do with spring and autumn calving," said Sheasby of the NFU. "Yep. Calving."

"In the autumn, cattle will be coming into winter housing, but in spring you want them out grazing the grass."

Cow-charging incidents received extended coverage when former Home Secretary David Blunkett was attacked by one in June as his guide dog led him across a field in England's Peak District.

Blunkett broke a rib and was heavily bruised but survived. And so was the dog.

The YeetleMaster