A dog walker was tossed 8ft into the air by a cow which then consistently stomped on him as he attempted to crawl away, breaking 6 ribs of his ribs and leaving him with damage to his lungs and spleen.
Steve Adams, from Coleshill, Warwickshire, was on vacation with his spouse Jane near Sidbury, East Devon when they opted for a walk with their Springer Spaniel.
They were walking along a public walkway through a field consisting of cows with calves when among the cows assaulted, leaving Steve terribly hurt. He invested 7 days in extensive care.
Cattle grazing on a farm. Credit: Alamy Stock
Steve, who is now 63, and is a father of 3 with 2 grandchildren, is retired from the transportation market. He said: “My own grandfather was a farmer, so I’d been around cattle as a child, and I wasn’t scared of them. Now, I wouldn’t go into a field with cows, you don’t know what’s going to happen. People should be very wary of cows.”
Steve and Jane were on vacation at the East Devon caravan and motorhome campground in July 2021 when they chose to choose a walk with their dog, which was on a lead.
Their path took them from a pub through fields. As they headed towards a pedestrian gate at the edge of among the fields, they pertained to an electrical fence surrounding the fields edge.
They were then surrounded by more than 20 livestock, some with calves. A cow approached, decreased its head and tossed Mr Adams into the air. It then stomped him on the ground till he handled to crawl away.
The HSE discovered that livestock with young calves were being kept in a field with a public access throughout it. Cattle with young calves are understood to be protective and unforeseeable, and can posture a danger to walkers, specifically to those with dogs. The HSE recommends that farmers ought to not put livestock with young calves in fields with a public access.
“I managed to roll away from under it”
Steve Adams said: “It was simply the one cow, the most significant one. It showed up and tossed me into the air with its head and after that it trod all over me. I was attempting to crawl out of the method, however it simply kept landing its hooves on me.
“The dog was on its lead and I’d handled to let it go and it made it away. My spouse had among those plastic ball throwers for the dog and she was striking the cow with it however it made no distinction at all. I handled to roll far from under it.
“I wasn’t feeling too proficient at all, I couldn’t breathe. It had actually taken us about 15 minutes to stroll to where it occurred, however it took us about 2 and half hours to make it back to the van. An ambulance was contacted us to the website and they said quickly that I’d broken my ribs. It was a quite frightening day.
“I don’t walk too much now. I’m not as healthy as I was, and I can still feel my injuries now.”
Barry Fowler, of Sidbury, Sidmouth, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(2) of the Health & Safety at Work and so on Act 1974 and was fined £555 and purchased to pay expenses of £3,000 at Exeter Magistrates’ Court on 8 March 2023.
HSE Inspector Simon Jones said: “The severe injuries to Mr Adam sustained when he has actually assaulted and stomped by livestock with their calves was absolutely avoidable.
“Cattle are very protective of their calves and even calm livestock can end up being aggressive if they believe the calves may, in any method, be threatened, even by members of the general public walking past.
“Farmers should not place cattle with calves in fields where members of the public have a legal right to walk unless appropriate measures are in place such as robust fencing separating cattle from people. Had Barry Fowler done this then the incident could not have happened.”
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