A woman is speaking out after getting trampled by a herd of cows. She's ringing the alarm bells about the dangers of their unpredictability.
Libby James got trampled while with her husband and their dog in 2014. Her injuries were so extensive that she needed to be airlifted to a nearby hospital. They had been walking on when the herd of cows knocked her off. Fortunately, her husband managed to save her from the cows, but her injuries were so bad that they were described as similar to a car crash.
"My father taught me to walk through a field of cows," she told Daily Mail. "I strolled confidently through the field and when the herd approached I raised my hands and bellowed 'Go back.'" That's when she realized that she was enclosed by the cows. From there, the cattle trampled her.
"It was just the shock of being headbutted. The force knocked me down, I thought, get up," she said. The herd broke her jaw in the process. "And then this lovely thing did it again and again and again, and in the end I couldn't get up because I thought 'I'm going to pass out.' I was thinking 'This is it, I'm going to die.' I looked up and all I could see were lots of hooves, not just the one that was attacking me, but all of the others about to come down on me, and at that point I passed out."
Cows Trample People
Of her injuries, she had several broken ribs, collapsed lungs, and internal bleeding. Since then, James has been raising awareness about the dangers of cows. She runs a website called Killer Cows and also a campaign group Cows On Walkers Safety. In the past 10 years, 62 people have been killed by cattle. Meanwhile, several others have been injured.
James said that more people need to be aware of the dangers of cows when walking footpaths near farms.
"The footpaths were there before the farmers came on board. So the farms were established over the footpath network," she said. "The footpath network is wonderful, it keeps us in touch with nature and keeps people fit, and being able to access the countryside without the need to for an expensive gym or anything like that. So we need the footpaths, but we need them to be safe. People have a right to walk on those footpaths. It is indelibly laid down in law."
Farm Dangers
She also said, "But actually, if you put cows in a field you are no longer safe to walk through that field. You are blocking that footpath, and that is illegal. And that is something that people don't realize yet."
James also highlighted that farm workers need to take protections as well.
"A lot of those deaths are farmers or farm workers. It's dreadful," she said. "So it isn't just walkers that we want to protect. I know fences won't protect farmers, but farmers need to realise that that cow that they brought up from birth and they think is lovely can change at the drop of a hat, and if it gets angsty and lashes out."
She also said, "It weighs half a ton, and it can kill you, and and I think they forget that, and they just walk through the fields as though. Oh, they're just little pets and they're not. Cows are not pets. They shouldn't be treated as such."
