Walker seriously injured after being attacked by Swiss cows
The Local - [email protected]
Published: 9 Jun, 2017 CET.
Updated: Fri 9 Jun 2017 09:52 CET
A walker was left with broken ribs and vertebrae after she was attacked by a herd of cows last weekend, it has emerged.
The 54-year-old woman was out walking with her dog in Chevenez in the canton of Jura on Saturday, reported Le Matin on Thursday.
Wanting to avoid walking through long grass, she left the designated trail and entered a fenced off field where a herd of around 20 cows was grazing.
The cows attacked the woman, who was left with three broken vertebrae and eight broken ribs.
Despite her injuries she managed to get under the electric fence and away from the cows.
However she then lay there for five hours before she was finally rescued thanks to her dog.
“We went out to look for her and found her dog who took us to her. Without him she would be dead,” said the couple with whom the injured woman had been staying the weekend.
However it appears the dog may also have been part of the problem.
Speaking to Le Matin, the village’s mayor Michel Baconat warned against walkers taking dogs into a field containing cows.
“For a cow that protects its calves, a dog is a predator,” he said.
“The problem is that when it is attacked, it returns to its owner with the cows at its heels”.
He said the woman would probably have been gorged if the cows that attacked her hadn’t been de-horned.
The victim was taken by air rescue helicopter to hospital in Basel where she was operated on.
The incident is not without precedent in Switzerland.
In 2015 a German tourist was killed by cows when out walking in the Laax area of Graubünden, leading the region to install signs warning hikers about approaching cows, especially those with calves.
In 2014, a family of tourists were attacked by a cow with a calf above Davos, while in 2012 a woman was attacked by cows in a pasture above Saint-Gingolph in the canton of Valais.
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The 54-year-old woman was out walking with her dog in Chevenez in the canton of Jura on Saturday, reported Le Matin on Thursday.
Wanting to avoid walking through long grass, she left the designated trail and entered a fenced off field where a herd of around 20 cows was grazing.
The cows attacked the woman, who was left with three broken vertebrae and eight broken ribs.
Despite her injuries she managed to get under the electric fence and away from the cows.
However she then lay there for five hours before she was finally rescued thanks to her dog.
“We went out to look for her and found her dog who took us to her. Without him she would be dead,” said the couple with whom the injured woman had been staying the weekend.
However it appears the dog may also have been part of the problem.
Speaking to Le Matin, the village’s mayor Michel Baconat warned against walkers taking dogs into a field containing cows.
“For a cow that protects its calves, a dog is a predator,” he said.
“The problem is that when it is attacked, it returns to its owner with the cows at its heels”.
He said the woman would probably have been gorged if the cows that attacked her hadn’t been de-horned.
The victim was taken by air rescue helicopter to hospital in Basel where she was operated on.
The incident is not without precedent in Switzerland.
In 2015 a German tourist was killed by cows when out walking in the Laax area of Graubünden, leading the region to install signs warning hikers about approaching cows, especially those with calves.
In 2014, a family of tourists were attacked by a cow with a calf above Davos, while in 2012 a woman was attacked by cows in a pasture above Saint-Gingolph in the canton of Valais.
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