Background
People should know by now that cows can be dangerous. It is well known that cows, all cattle, can be a risk to people in their vicinity particularly cows with calves. There have been several high-profile deaths of walkers by cows recently in the UK.
Primary school teacher
A primary school teacher, Marian Clode, was attacked by the lead cow of a herd of 15 while she was walking along a bridle path near St Cuthbert’s Cave, Northumberland in April 2016. The group of cows approached from about 30 feet away. Lucy Rowe, 38, Marian’s daughter, described what happened.
The lead cow, a big black cow, slowed and it must have caught sight of my mum. It stood back and hit her. It backed up again and hit her again. It hit her and she flew over the fence like a ragdoll.
The other members of the party escaped over a barbed wire fence. Marian Clode was airlifted to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle but she died of her injuries. She was from Hyde in Greater Manchester and had been walking with relatives.
An inquest into her death was told that the owner of the cows, a farmer, Alistair Nixon, had planned to move a herd of 140 cows from their winter shed. Some of them had escaped as they were being herded down the bridle path where they encountered Marian Clode.
