Central European Cow-Attack Round-up - December 2011

Last December, cows and humans appear to have declared a temporary truce and there were only four incidents in the whole month. This year, there was no let up in hostilities. The theme for the month seems to be 'cows trying to escape' and there were only three actual attacks or attempted attacks on humans, none fatal.
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South Tyrol, 2 December: Ein Hirsch hat am Donnerstag einen Jäger in St. Pankraz in Südtirol attackiert und verletzt. Nachdem der Hund des 71-Jährigen den Hirsch gestellt hatte, geriet das Tier in Panik und ging auf den Weidmann los..

A deer attacked a hunter which had cornered it, stabbing him in the leg and hand with its antlers. The man slid 50 metres down a steep embankment. Another man came to his aid, between them they killed the deer and the hunter was later taken to hospital. You can't really fault the animal, can you?
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Hesse, 7 December: Eine ausgebüxte Kuh hat die Polizei im südhessischen Gernsheim (Kreis Groß-Gerau) über Stunden auf Trab gehalten... Als das Tier in einer Garage Zuflucht suchte und dort von einem Polizisten durch das Schließen der Garagentür festgesetzt werden sollte, rannte die Kuh den Beamten einfach um, wobei dieser leicht verletzt wurde...

A stray/escaped cow led the police on a merry chase which lasted hours. She managed to jump over the barrier and cross a motorway, dodging several police cars as she went. She tried to hide in a garage, and just when a policeman tried to trap her by slamming the door shut, she charged out again, knocking him over and injuring him. She was later cornered in a carpenter's storage area and a vet managed to hit her with a tranquiliser dart at the tenth attempt.
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Salzburg 8 December: Nichts genutzt hat einem Kalb in Bergheim bei Salzburg die Flucht. Das am Nikolaustag ausgebüxte Jungtier ist am Mittwochabend von einer Garnitur der Lokalbahn gestreift und verletzt worden. Als die Polizei eintraf, rannte das Rind auf die Beamten zu, woraufhin einer auf das Tier schoss. Das verletzte Kalb wurde später von Mitarbeitern des Nutzviehmarktes abtransportiert und wurde oder wird getötet, sagte Polizeisprecher Michael Rausch.

This one is really sad. A calf managed to escape from a slaughterhouse and was hit and injured by a passing train. On the next day, the police discovered it hiding in a ditch. It charged at a policeman who shot it from 4 to 6 metres away, it is not clear whether the shots hit or missed. It was then finally rounded up and dragged back to the slaughterhouse and has been or will be duly slaughtered.
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Hesse 12 December: Frankershausen. Eine Kuh ist Sonntagfrüh durch das Dach einer Scheune im Berkataler Ortsteil Frankershausen (Werra-Meißner-Kreis) gebrochen. Zuvor war das Tier ausgebrochen und in Panik auf das Dach der Scheune gesprungen, die etwas in den Warteberg hineinragt.

A cow broke out of the shed and managed to climb onto the roof. The tiles gave way and the cow fell through and was trapped. She was so badly injured that a vet put her down. They then had to saw through the beams and lower the carcass down with a fork-lift truck. The article is worth a visit for the splendid photo' of a cow's front and back legs dangling through the holes in the roof.
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Lower Austria 18 December: ngewöhnlicher Einsatz für Beamte der Polizeiinspektion Traisen im Bezirk Lilienfeld. Einer Bäuerin war Freitagfrüh ein Stier entkommen, das Tier lief direkt auf die Schienen der Traisentalbahn und wurde prompt von einem Zug erfasst. ..

This story is similar to the Salzburg one above, but it happened in a different part of Austria. Bull escaped from its owner, ran onto the railway track and was hit by a train. It was later tracked down by the police. It was badly injured so they shot it dead. train services were not affected and the train which hit him was not damaged.
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Zürich 19 December: Ein Landwirt aus Fehraltorf hat eine entlaufene Kuh mit seinem Jeep gejagt, angefahren und so schwer verletzt, dass sie eingeschläfert werden musste. Am Montag wurde der Bauer wegen Tierquälerei verurteilt.

Back in 2010, a pregnant cow had escaped and trotted off down the road. The farmer couldn't catch her on foot so he went back to get his jeep. He couldn't round her up so he resorted to driving into her back legs. As she lay on the floor, he drove into her again for good measure. Both her legs were broken. The man simply left the scene but a witness reported the incident. He lied in court and claimed he had only hit the cow once by accident and was duly found guilty of animal cruelty and fined CHF 9,900.

The idiot appealed against this verdict. The police now provided further evidence based on the jeep's skid marks, the verdict was upheld and the fine increased to CHF 11,700 plus CHF 6,000 court costs.

For more examples of cruelty to cows in Switzerland, try the excellent Swiss Police Report website, e.g. this from June or this one from July. Unfortunately, you can't filter articles by date.
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Baden-Württemberg 21 December: Eine Kuh trat beim Impfen einen Tierarzt. Der verletzte sich gravierend am Knie und forderte Schmerzensgeld. Doch das Tübinger Landgericht wies seine Klage ab.

Another court case (which I mentioned last month).

A vet had been attacked by a cow, he sued the farmer for €15,000 compensation, plus costs, plus loss of earnings. The vet had turned down an out-of-court settlement of €6,000 and the court has now turned down his claim on the basis that he is the expert and ought to have known about/minimised the risks and/or taken out his insurance, accept it as one of the risks of his job.

Seems fair enough to me, this is similar to English law (as it stood ten years ago at least). The owner of any premises owes the highest duty of care to third parties such as neighbours or passers by; the next highest duty to paying visitors (who ought to be vaguely aware of certain risks); a high duty to non-expert employees; and the lowest duty to outside experts paid to carry out a particularly risky task. Had an electrician been attacked by a cow, that would be a different matter, in the same way as if the vet had been electrocuted by faulty wiring.
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Styringia 21 December: Beim Verladen von zwei Kälbern ist am Mittwoch in St. Marein bei Graz ein 55-Jähriger schwer verletzt worden. Der Mann wurde von einem der Tiere gegen die Heckwand eines Lkws gedrückt und von den Hörnern im Brust- und Baubereich verletzt.

A butcher was trying to load two 600-kg calves onto a transporter. One of them crushed him against the side of the lorry, he ended up underneath the loading ramp and a calf attacked him its horns. He suffered injuries to head, chest and stomach. The butcher initially went inside the farm house to recover but his brother persuaded him to go to hospital.
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Brandeburg 21 December: Eine Herde von 20 Kühen ist am Mittwoch bei Löwenberg (Oberhavel) von einer Koppel ausgebüxt und auf der Bundesstraße 96 herumspaziert... Die Ordnungsbehörden prüfen jetzt, ob der Halter seine Pflichten verletzt hat.

A herd of twenty cattle did a bunk and wandered about on the motorway for an hour. Even though it is a busy road, all the passing cars managed to avoid hitting any. It took half an hour to round them up again and the authorities are investigating whether the cattle's owner breached his duty of care to third parties (see previous story for legal stuff).
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Switzerland 30 December: Luzern/LU. Gestern Abend ist ein Zug der BLS von Entlebuch Richtung Wolhusen gefahren. Im Gebiet Rossei standen plötzlich Kühe auf dem Geleise. Trotz sofort eingeleiteter Vollbremsung, kollidierte der Zug mit vier Tieren. Drei Kühe waren sofort tot. Eine vierte musste aufgrund der Verletzungen eingeschläfert werden. Personen kamen keine zu Schaden."

Four cows suddenly appeared on the tracks in front of a train. Although the train driver braked as hard as he could, he hit them, killing three instantly. The fourth had to be put down. The train was not derailed but was damaged. No passengers were injured and they were ferried on their way with a rail replacement 'bus.
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Switzerland 30 December: Glück im Unglück für ein Kalb namens Roger: Am Donnerstag-mittag ist es in Küssnacht SZ aus einem Tiertrans-portanhänger gefallen. Dabei zog es sich lediglich einige Schrammen an einem Bein zu. Der Fahrer des Anhängers aber bemerkte den Vorfall nicht und setzte sein Fahrt fort.

A little calf called Roger fell off a transporter but only suffered scratches. The driver did not notice but a following car driver did, who alerted the police. The calf allowed himself to be tied to a tree and waited patiently until the transporter came back.

Crikey, the audience shouts, I knew Switzerland was boring but does this actually count as newsworthy?

Yes it does - the interesting bit is that nobody can explain how the little calf managed to jump out of a trailer which has 1.5 metre high sides. Well duh, as English child knows, cows can jump over moons, so of course calves can surmount 1.5 metre obstacles. Maybe one of the others gave him a leg up or something.
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Burgenland 30 December: Kuh „Yvonne“, die im Sommer mit ihrer Flucht ganz Bayern unterhielt, hat im Burgenland einen männlichen Nachahmer gefunden: Jungstier „Ivan“ ist beim Einzug in sein neues Quartier in Wulkaprodersdorf (Bezirk Eisenstadt-Umgebung) Anfang Oktober ausgebüxt und seither untergetaucht...

Inspired by Bavaria's Yvonne, a six-month old bull called Ivan escaped during transport and has now been on the run for three months. It is assumed that he is hiding in a 500-acre stretch of forest. They tried tempting him out with a cow but this didn't work.

Best of luck, little fella!