A woman aged 59 lost her life after being trampled by a group of cows while she was walking her dog, as revealed during a coroner’s hearing held recently.
Rebecca Jane Hitchings, a retired nurse residing in Woodcombe near Minehead, Somerset, met with the cows while walking her dog on Exmoor in Devon.
Following the unfortunate incident, Ms. Hitchings sustained severe injuries and was airlifted to a hospital in Plymouth, where she passed away last week.
Senior Devon coroner Philip Spinney reported that Ms. Hitchings suffered from significant injuries when discovered in a field and despite efforts by medical staff at Plymouth’s Derriford Hospital, she could not be saved.
The coroner’s office determined the cause of death to be hemorrhagic shock resulting from blunt trauma, with the date of her passing listed as Thursday, 16th October.
The inquest has been postponed for a comprehensive hearing at a later time, with plans to potentially relocate the proceedings to the Somerset coroner, according to Mr. Spinney.
These events come shortly after an incident in Austria where an 85-year-old hiker was fatally trampled by a herd of cows while out walking with his wife and dog.
The elderly man and his 82-year-old wife were attacked by nine cows as they were heading towards a mountain hut in Ramsau am Dachstein in Austria’s Styria province.
Witnesses observing the incident mentioned that the cows appeared to have been startled by the couple’s dog before they initiated the sudden attack.
Upon the attack, other hikers and individuals at the mountain hut rushed to assist the couple, who were then transported to a hospital in Salzburg by emergency services.
Unfortunately, the man succumbed to his injuries before emergency surgery could be performed, prompting a police investigation into the circumstances surrounding his tragic demise.
Individuals are advised to exercise caution when in cow-populated areas, especially with dogs that might agitate the cattle and trigger aggressive behavior.
In a separate incident earlier this year in China, a farmer perished after being fatally crushed by one of his cows during feeding time.
The elderly farmer was attacked by the cow, which charged at him and pinned him against a wall while he was feeding the animals in central China on Friday, April 11.
Local reports indicated that the victim had entered the cowshed for the routine feeding of the animals, as he did daily, before the tragic event unfolded.