Monday, 6 September 2010

"Pensioner ramblers injured by cow during walk through Totteridge Valley"

From The [lots of different places] Times:

A GROUP of terrified pensioners were attacked by a cow as they walked along a popular footpath in the picturesque Totteridge Valley. One of the group, aged 72, suffered a broken leg whilst two others have severe bruising and feared being trampled by the animal during the "terrifying" ordeal on Friday morning...

She told the Times Series: "We had come to a kissing gate and I was helping one lady aged 84 through it when the cow charged us. I heard a scream and turned to see one lady going headlong into a hedge and then the cow went for her again in the bushes and kicked her leg, which is when it got broken. She was shouting for help, but there was nothing we could do as it was just so big."

The Fresian milking cow then rounded on two other members of the group, knocking them both to the ground, before the animal turned around a "sauntered off".

Kathy Kyriakides, who suffered severe arm and rib bruising after being butted by the cow, said: "I saw her coming and I was going to get trampled. I tried to hit her with my handbag but she got me in the arm and knocked me over. It was really terrifying as there was nothing any of us could do. One minute she was standing about 20 yards away watching us the next minute she was charging. We don't know why she snapped, we were just walking along the footpath not making a lot of noise and there were no dogs or anything around."

2 comments:

Ed P said...

Mad cows? No, they were just normal women.
This is the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know it. Next the milk will curdle before it's poured out. Who knows where it might end?

Mark Wadsworth said...

Ed P, cows are a naturally wild and aggressive animal, but over the past couple of millennia, farmers have carefully bred them for their milk, meat, resistance to disease etc etc.

But it's a fine line, if you leave cattle to their own devices for a generation or two, millions of years of evolution will reassert themselves and they turn back in to what they used to be.